Female Veterans’ Experiences With VHA Treatment for Military Sexual Trauma
Provider validation and support for females’ experiences as well as a range of therapies are essential treatments for female veterans with military sexual trauma.
Sara Cichowski is a Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgeon at New Mexico VA Health Care System and University of New Mexico. Malia Ashley is a Medical Student, Orlando Ortiz is a Resident Physician in psychiatry, and Gena Dunivan is a Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgeon, all at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Correspondence: Sara Cichowski (sara .cichowski@va.gov)
Author disclosures The authors report no actual or potential conflicts of interest with regard to this article.
Disclaimer The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Federal Practitioner, Frontline Medical Communications Inc., the US Government, or any of its agencies.
Recall bias may have affected how female veterans described their experiences with MST treatment. We did not inquire about the timing of therapy and whether they sought VA care first, followed by community care, or vice versa. Finally, although the data were analyzed separately by 3 investigators, biases in data analysis may arise with qualitative methods.
Strengths of the study included the inherent patient-centered approach and ability to analyze data not readily extracted from patient records or validated questionnaires. Additionally, this qualitative approach allows for the discovery of patient-driven ideas and concerns. Our focus groups also contained a majority of minority females (including Hispanic and American Indian) populations that are frequently underrepresented in research.
Conclusion
Our data show there is still substantial room for improvement in the therapies and in the physician-level care for MST. While each treatment experience was unique, the collective agreement was that multimodal therapy was beneficial. However, the isolation that often comes from MST makes accessing care and treatment challenging. A crucial component to combating this isolation is provider validation and support for the female’s experience with MST. The simple act of hearing “I believe you” from the provider can make a huge impact on continuing to seek care and overcoming the consequences of MST.
