Changing Rates of Mental Health Disorders Among Veterans Treated in the VHA During Troop Drawdown, 2007-2013.
Marcia G HuntGary S CuddebackElizabeth BromleyDaniel W BradfordRani A HoffPublished in: Community mental health journal (2019)
Nationally representative data on mental health disorder prevalence are critical to set informed mental health priorities and policies. Data indicating mental health diagnoses within our nation's veteran population treated at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) are available, but have yet to be examined for changing trends to inform both VHA and community care. We use VHA national program evaluation data from a time of increasing military enrollment (2007) to troop draw down (2013) to examine changes over time in the number of diagnoses in veterans receiving VHA services. The number of veterans in all diagnostic categories increased during our study period with the smallest increase in psychotic disorders (8%) and the largest in posttraumatic stress disorder (71%). Trends in behavioral health diagnoses among veterans have important implications for policy and clinician competencies within VHA and community providers as veteran mental health care needs change.
Keyphrases
- mental health
- posttraumatic stress disorder
- healthcare
- mental illness
- quality improvement
- public health
- electronic health record
- big data
- palliative care
- risk factors
- primary care
- bipolar disorder
- data analysis
- affordable care act
- machine learning
- artificial intelligence
- newly diagnosed
- global health
- health information
- nursing students
- human health