VA HSR&D Center for Health Information and Communication.
South Central MIRECC Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System.
Psychiatr Rehabil J. 2019 Sep;42(3):284-295. doi: 10.1037/prj0000375. Epub 2019 Jun 27.
Veterans with "invisible injuries" (a mental health diagnosis or a traumatic brain injury) often pursue higher education to enhance employment and community reintegration, but frequently experience challenges to success. This mixed methods study examined how the educational experiences of Veterans with invisible injuries become intertwined with broader transitions between military and civilian life and the resulting implications for rehabilitation services.
Thirty-eight Veterans with mental illness or a traumatic brain injury who served in a post-9/11 conflict and attended a postsecondary institution within the past 60 months completed in-depth interviews and questionnaires. We used a constant comparative approach to analyze barriers and facilitators to educational functioning and community reintegration.
Managing school-specific challenges, coping with mental and physical health problems, forming a new sense of self, and forging new career pathways were major factors influencing education experiences and reintegration. Participants discussed the challenges of balancing these processes while progressing toward an academic degree, which often resulted in a longer, nonlinear educational pathway. While some participants attempted to "compartmentalize" educational goals, separate from health and family concerns, these aims were inevitably interlaced. In addition, multiple and longer military deployments tended to lengthen the time to degree completion.
Many Veterans with invisible injuries face complex challenges stemming from military experiences, the family dynamics to which they return, and reintegration issues that demand novel forms of resilience. Collaboration between university staff and health practitioners may be important in enhancing support for student Veterans coping with invisible disabilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
患有“无形损伤”（心理健康诊断或创伤性脑损伤）的退伍军人经常追求高等教育以提高就业和社区融合能力，但在成功方面经常面临挑战。这项混合方法研究考察了患有无形损伤的退伍军人的教育经历如何与军事和民事生活之间的更广泛过渡交织在一起，以及对康复服务的由此产生的影响。
38 名患有精神疾病或创伤性脑损伤的退伍军人在 9/11 后冲突中服役，并在过去 60 个月内参加了一所高等教育机构，他们完成了深入的访谈和问卷调查。我们使用恒定比较方法来分析教育功能和社区融合的障碍和促进因素。
管理学校特有的挑战、应对心理和身体健康问题、形成新的自我意识以及开拓新的职业道路是影响教育经历和重新融入社会的主要因素。参与者讨论了在朝着获得学位的方向前进的过程中平衡这些过程的挑战，这通常导致了更长的、非直线的教育途径。虽然有些参与者试图“分开”教育目标，使其与健康和家庭问题分开，但这些目标不可避免地交织在一起。此外，多次和更长时间的军事部署往往会延长完成学位的时间。
许多患有无形损伤的退伍军人面临着源自军事经历、他们回归的家庭动态以及需要新形式的适应力的重新融入问题的复杂挑战。大学工作人员和健康从业者之间的合作对于增强应对无形残疾的学生退伍军人的支持可能很重要。（PsycINFO 数据库记录（c）2019 APA，保留所有权利）。
