Image background by Nvllola/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0); foreground by Leon Tura/Getty Images
Rates of sexual assault and sexual harassment of service members remain troublingly high, despite ongoing prevention efforts in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). RAND recently synthesized research on the associations between sexual assault and sexual harassment and mental health conditions, identifying effective psychotherapy treatments in military settings and barriers to care. Researchers found a link between sexual assault and harassment experienced as an adult and PTSD, depression, and substance use disorders—and that a variety of psychotherapy treatment options show promise in reducing depression and PTSD symptoms.
However, an array of factors related to the health system, treatment programs, providers, and individuals themselves can affect whether patients initiate and remain in treatment. Some of these factors are unique to military settings, but others—such as the importance of continuity of care, logistical barriers, and a perception that military sexual trauma does not affect men—have ongoing implications for veterans.
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Photo by Marine Corps Cpl. Arianna Lindheimer/Department of Defense
RAND is pleased to announce the formation of the Veterans Policy Research Collaborative (VPRC), an interdisciplinary research community committed to advancing veterans policy research and improving the well-being of veterans. Our goals are to connect researchers across organizations who are working on veterans policy research, coordinate and share findings, and ensure that our collective research is informing policies that will make a difference in the lives of veterans. The VPRC, which meets monthly, includes members from a range of universities and research organizations and is funded by a grant from the Heinz Endowments.
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Photo by *Deep*/Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
In January, the House and Senate swore in their newest members and announced committee assignments. The House Veterans Affairs' Committee is now led by chairman Rep. Mike Bost and ranking member Rep. Mark Takano, while Sen. Jon Tester and Sen. Jerry Moran remain chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee (SVAC). Members have already introduced legislation to address veterans' policy, including bills that (if passed through both chambers and signed into law) would:
- Prohibit VA from denying benefits to otherwise eligible veterans who participate in a state-approved marijuana program (H.R. 394); find research on cannabis legalization from the RAND Drug Policy Research Center.
- Eliminate the time limit for certain veterans to use post-9/11 education benefits (H.R. 395); find RAND research on post-9/11 education benefits here.
- Provide educational assistance through VA for service members who received a general discharge under honorable conditions after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine (H.R. 291); we looked at the precarious transitions of unvaccinated service members in a recent commentary.
- Require VA to schedule appointments for veterans at the same time they enroll in VA health care (H.R. 41); institute codirector Carrie Farmer testified on this issue before SVAC.
On the subject of VA appointment wait times, a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office report compared how long veterans wait for specialty care appointments with VA providers versus providers in their communities. For more background, see our overview of VA community care, part of our Issues in Focus series.
Under VA's interim final rule on Emergent Suicide Care, beginning January 17, 2023, veterans with other than dishonorable discharges who experience an acute suicidal crisis can go to any VA or non-VA facility for emergency care free of charge, even if they are not enrolled in the VA system. For an overview of veterans' suicide risk, see this installment in our Issues in Focus series.
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- The Bob Woodruff Foundation has posted a video from its November panel on military and veteran suicide rates and prevention, which brought together experts from VA, DoD, and America's Warrior Partnership for a discussion moderated by Rajeev Ramchand.
- RAND and external experts discussed the evolving legal and policy landscape during our webinar on psychedelics and veterans' mental health, which we cohosted with the RAND Drug Policy Research Center.
- Kayla Williams coauthored the commentary “Research Priorities to Support Women Veterans' Reproductive Health and Health Care Within a Learning Health Care System.”
- Sierra Smucker presented on her ongoing research on the well-being of single parents who are veterans at the Student Veterans of America National Conference.
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