Skip to main content

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Health Serv.
Sec. Mental Health Services
Volume 4 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frhs.2024.1426202
This article is part of the Research Topic Mental Health Services for Occupational Trauma: Decreasing Stigma and Increasing Access, Volume 2 View all 4 articles

A rapid review of the barriers and facilitators of mental health service access among Veterans and their families

Provisionally accepted
Natalie Ein Natalie Ein 1,2*Julia Gervasio Julia Gervasio 1,3Kate St. Cyr Kate St. Cyr 1,4Jenny Liu Jenny Liu 1,2Clara Baker Clara Baker 1Anthony Nazarov Anthony Nazarov 1,2,5J Don Richardson J Don Richardson 1,2,5,6
  • 1 MacDonald Franklin OSI Research and Innovation Centre, London, Canada
  • 2 Department of Psychiatry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
  • 3 Department of Psychology, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • 4 Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • 5 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
  • 6 Operational Stress Injury Clinic, St Joseph's Health Care, London, Ontario, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Transitioning to civilian life after military service can be challenging for both Veterans and their families. Accessible mental health services are crucial during this period to provide support. The objective of this review was to conduct a rapid review to capture the barriers and identify facilitators that influence access to mental health services for Veterans and their families during the post-service transition period. Methods. This review was conducted using the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions as a methodological framework and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses -Rapid Review (PRISMA-RR). Results. A total of 60 articles and 67 independent samples were included in the final data analyses. Across the included articles, this review identified 23 barriers and 14 facilitator themes. Issues navigating the mental health care system was identified as the main challenge among Veterans and their families, and those who received support navigating the system identified this as a significant facilitator. Applying the Theoretical Domains Framework, most of the identified barriers and facilitators were categorized into environmental context and resources domain. Discussion. The heterogeneity in Veterans' and Veteran families' experiences with mental health care-seeking may suggest that access to mental health care for Veterans and Veteran families cannot be solved by addressing one type of barrier alone. Instead, coordinated efforts to address prioritized systemic, logistical, social, and inter-/intrapersonal obstacles are essential for improving access and optimizing mental health care outcomes. These insights underscore the complexity of considerations for Veterans and families accessing mental health care.

    Keywords: Mental Health Services, Veterans, veteran families, wellbeing, Mental Health

    Received: 30 Apr 2024; Accepted: 25 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ein, Gervasio, St. Cyr, Liu, Baker, Nazarov and Richardson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Natalie Ein, MacDonald Franklin OSI Research and Innovation Centre, London, Canada

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.