(PS4-82) Can Psychoeducation on Veterans’ Self-stigma and Moral Injury Benefit Attitudes Towards Seeking Mental Health Treatment?

Abstract Text: More than 1.5 million veterans have been deployed to the Global War on Terror. Sixty-five percent of combat veterans experience wartime trauma. Thirty-eight percent of combat veterans return from deployment with a diagnosable mental illness, such as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Combat exposure significantly increases the risk of development of PTSD, as upwards of 35.8% of combat veterans are diagnosed. Due to wartime transgressions, many combat veterans are also diagnosed with Moral Injury, or the impact of perpetrating, failing to prevent, or bearing witness to acts that transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations. Due to moral injury, many combat veterans develop guilt and shame, ultimately developing Mental Health Self-Stigma, or internalized stigma surrounding their diagnosis. Often, due to the overlap between moral injury and PTSD, traditional PTSD treatments do not work for combat veterans. However, no studies have sought to understand the relationship between mental health self-stigma, moral injury, and PTSD. Only about 20-30% of combat veterans with a diagnosable mental health condition engage in help-seeking behaviors. Of those that do seek help, only 10% last 9 or more sessions in treatment. Thus, it is imperative to find an intervention to assist in increasing help-seeking behaviors among combat veterans. Online, group, brief psychoeducational interventions have shown great promise in increasing adherence and attendance while decreasing attrition for combat veterans.
The goal of this study is to understand the role that targeting mental health self-stigma and moral injury through an online psychoeducation group may have on a combat veteran’s help-seeking behavior. Thirty combat veterans who have not previously sought mental health treatment and that screen positive for PTSD via PCL-5 are currently being recruited from various online platforms (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit) for a brief 4-session online psychoeducational group. Participants are randomized into one of two conditions: moral injury psychoeducation only or moral injury and mental health self-stigma psychoeducation. Group leaders provide psychoeducation among these topics, and participants are encouraged to discuss and apply these concepts to themselves. Following the 4-sessions, group leaders email a list of resources. The primary outcome of the study is if participants utilize the mental health resources by clicking on the link to the resource. Secondary outcomes consist of self-reported PTSD, moral injury, and mental health self-stigma symptoms via PCL-5, Moral Injury and Distress Scale, and Military Stigma Scale, respectively. Data is currently being collected.