Milestone 2 Kelhi-weddle PDF

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Credible Evidence Evaluation Loretta E. Kelhi-Weddle Southern New Hampshire University

2 The problem I hope to address with the source, "Mental Health Beliefs and Their Relationship with Treatment Seeking among U.S. OEF/OIF Veterans", is the belief that veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) seeking care for mental health issues will feel stigmatized by friends, family, and coworkers. In the article researchers discovered that "one in three OEF/OIF veterans in one study reported that they would be stigmatized by others for seeking mental health treatment" (Vogt et al., 2014/2020, p. 307). This research study was organized to also show the use of mental health services between mental health, substance abuse, and depression. One of the end results in this study was that participants felt that others around them would find it problematic to keep up their relationship with others if he/she started receiving mental health services. These barriers are what I hope to address further. This research is about "both beliefs about the extent to which one will be stigmatized by others for experiencing a mental health problem and personal beliefs about mental illness and mental health treatment" (Vogt et al., 2014/2020, p. 307). Naming the barriers makes it easier to take them down and makes it more socially acceptable to receive treatment. The results explain that many veterans choose not to take a proactive approach to their own mental health because of the perceived and sometimes real feelings of others. The stigma of stoicism, shake it off, and weakness prevents veterans from doing what would benefit them because of friends, family, and coworkers possible reactions. It also shows that some veterans will look down on another for seeking treatment. The researchers concluded that "these results are consistent with our hypothesis that an individual’s own mental health beliefs are a more important barrier to care than concerns about stigma from others" (Vogt et al., 2014/2020, p. 312). This study draws on the psycho-social theory that there is social and cultural influence on mental health beliefs. "The

3 emphasis on competence, confidence, and stoicism in the military may make negative mental health beliefs" (Vogt et al., 2014/2020, p. 307). Using credible evidence helps support my action plan because it helps me convey to my readers that what I am stressing is the truth based on fact. These sources are organized studies that will help give credit to my claim. At least one author has a doctorate, and at the time of publication the authors’ affiliations included the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and the Boston University School of Medicine. This article is also written for the research for the Department of Veterans Affairs with citations given for the sources they used. This is source is relevant because it will help shed more light on the stigma that is receiving mental health care. It serves to help understand the negative connotations and barriers about going and asking for help. It did conform to ethical guidelines by complying with informed consent. They sent out the surveys with an opt-out form, and a $20 gift card as a, from my point of view, thank you for consideration or even doing it. Confidentiality and privacy was assumed because the research article did not use the names of participants. The second source "Help-Seeking Stigma and Mental Health Treatment Seeking Among Young Adult Veterans" documents a study of 812 veterans of OIF/OEF and the association of seeking help and the stigma that prevents them doing so. They hope to address what is keeping veterans from seeking the help they need. This study is to help target the perceived stigma to help close the gap between the needing and receiving of mental health services for veterans of OIF/OEF. "Thus, a substantial need exists to identify and overcome barriers to receipt of mental health services for veterans in need" (Kulesza et al., 2015/2020, p. 2). This study opened the doors for the understanding that veterans believed that they would be perceived as weak while they would not look at another veteran that way, "88% of veterans report they would not view a

4 fellow veteran that way" (Kulesza et al., 2015/2020, p. 9). They also concluded that stigmarelated barriers may be susceptible to change through interventions that show receiving help does not make them "weak". "Help-Seeking Stigma and Mental Health Treatment Seeking Among Young Adult Veterans" identifies a theory that perceived public stigma of mental health treatment will ostracize the veteran. "Societal prejudices of persons with mental illness as dangerous and unreliable, perceived public stigma is reflected by the extent to which such prejudiced views are regarded as prevalent in society" (Kulesza et al., 2015/2020, p. 2). All the authors have a doctorate. Three of the four were affiliated with the RAND Corporation (a nonprofit research organization), and one was affiliated with the Illinois Institute of Technology. This is an investigation into the association between the treatment-seeking stigma and the utilization of mental health services for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It shows a small number of veterans who look down upon a fellow veteran who would receive treatment, which is another barrier to break. This source conforms to the ethical guidelines of psychology by adhering to the confidentiality and privacy of its survey participants. They created a way to accomplish this by "allowing only one Facebook login per survey submission, closely examining the data to look for potential false data (e.g., surveys completed in impossible time lengths), and asking questions about branch, rank, and pay grade at discharge to make sure those items matched up consistently" (Kulesza et al., 2015/2020, p. 5). They only used the data from participants who consented and partook in the survey for the study.

5 References Kulesza, M., Pedersen, E. R., Corrigan, P. W., & Marshall, G. N. (2020). Help-seeking stigma and mental health treatment seeking among young adult veterans. In Psychology (5th ed.). Soomo Learning. https://www.webtexts.com (Reprinted from “Help-seeking stigma and mental health treatment seeking among young adult veterans,” 2015, Military Behavioral Health, 3[4], 230–239, https://doi.org/10.1080/21635781.2015.1055866) Vogt, D., Fox, A. B., & Di Leone, B. A. L. (2020). Mental health beliefs and their relationship with treatment seeking among U.S. OEF/OIF veterans. In Psychology (5th ed.). Soomo Learning. https://www.webtexts.com (Reprinted from “Mental health beliefs and their relationship with treatment seeking among U.S. OEF/OIF veterans,” 2014, Journal of Traumatic Stress, 27, 307–313, https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.21919)...