Giving Compass' Take:

• Gina DiGravio highlights research showing how health concerns are the most important readjustment challenge facing veterans in the first year after they leave military service.

• How can donors play a role in supporting veteran health care access? What are the ways they can collaborate with medical professionals? 

• Read about this app that encourages veterans to talk about their mental health. 

Every year, more than 200,000 US service members transition out of military service. While many go on to have productive and fulfilling lives, researchers have called for greater attention to the military-to-civilian transition experience, suggesting that some military veterans may have difficulty securing meaningful employment, meeting health care needs, and successfully integrating within civilian society.

To provide a descriptive picture of veterans’ health and well-being in the first year after leaving military service based on their gender, military rank, and deployment history, researchers studied more than 9,500 veterans.

The researchers surveyed the veterans on their health, work, and social relationships within three months of leaving the military and then six months later. Among the findings: former enlisted personnel reported poorer outcomes on nearly all areas of well-being compared with officers, whereas deployed veterans reported poorer health and female veterans acknowledged more mental health concerns compared with their nondeployed and male peers.

According to the researchers, the fact that veterans reported the poorest well-being in the health domain points to the importance of addressing veterans’ health concerns at the time they leave military service, especially regarding chronic pain, sleep, anxiety, and depression.

Read the full article about veteran's health by Gina DiGravio at Futurity.