1. Women’s Veterans’ Research Assessment
Fiorella Morales
Dr. Jena Hales (Psychology USD); Dr. Niloofar Afari (PI: VHASDC, UCSD)
Research Methods
Recruitment:
o 150 participants
o 83 consented/participated
o This study assesses women Veterans
across several domains, including
treatment preferences, barriers to care,
mental and physical health issues, and pre-
deployment, deployment, and post-
deployment experiences. All women
Veterans 18 years of age or older are
eligible to participate, and receive $40 in
canteen coupons after completing a one
time 2-hour assessment. All assessments
are conducted at VMRF in Rm. 322 at La
Jolla VA. Providers will have access to
clinically-relevant findings (e.g., PCL, PHQ-
9, GAD-7, SI assessment, etc.), which are
automatically uploaded to CPRS upon
completion of the assessment.
Consent Process:
• Consent Checklist: Subject must be
capable, the study is explained, and they
are given opportunity to ask questions and
ensure questions are answered to
satisfaction.
• Consent is made up of the HIPAA (Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act) ,Bill of Rights, VA Volunteering in
Research brochure. They sign their consent
forms and are given copies for their
records.
Electronic based Questionnaire (E-
screening):
o Self-reported
o 31 modules: PTSD, MST, Depression,
Suicidality, AUDIT-C, DAST. etc.
• Data collection and analysis is not yet
completed to show results.
Women Veteran’s Healthcare Utilizationhttp://www.publichealth.va.gov/epidemiology/studies/new-generation/index.asp#sthash.ClWKQQJQ.dpuf
Sample Questions
Below is a list of problems and complaints
that veterans sometimes have in response to
stressful life experiences. Please read each
one carefully, and choose a button to
indicate how much you have been bothered
by that problem in the past 4 weeks.
 Repeated, disturbing memories, thoughts,
or images of a stressful experience from
the past?
 Avoid activities or situations because they
remind you of a stressful experience from
the past?
Not at all, A little bit, Moderately, Quite a
bit, Extremely
 Military Sexual Trauma (MST)
 When you were in the military, did you
ever receive uninvited or unwanted
sexual attention (i.e, touching, cornering,
pressure for sexual favors or
inappropriate verbal remarks, etc.)?
2. When you were in the military, did
anyone ever use force or the threat of force
to have sex against your will?
'No' to both questions, 'Yes' to one or both
questions,
Decline to answer question regarding
MST
Importance
• Optimization of VA
Healthcare for Women
• Learning needs related to
healthcare
• Preferences in healthcare
• Earlier detection and
attention to any health
issues/concerns
Future:
Innovation and improvement for
more accessibility to healthcare
for women veterans.
Purpose
More than 44% of Women
Veterans (WV) are enrolled in the
VA Healthcare System (Hayes &
Krauthamer, 2009)
• General healthcare in world
geared towards males
• Women underrepresented
generally
• It is important for clinicians to
know who they are serving,
how they want to be served,
and what kind of services
they need and prefer.
Limitations
• Incomplete Questionnaires
• Participants not showing up for
study appointments
• Lack of Women enrolled in VA
o Accessibility issues
• Technical issues with E-screening
• Cross-sectional nature of study:
Causality cannot be inferred