Generally, for the present sample, veterans were not identified to have significant needs in most areas.
Figure 1 displays the distribution of unmet needs for the participants of this study. It is evident that there is no extreme variation in these ratings but in several domains, clinicians have perceived an unmet need where participants have not.
Here we consider unmet needs in 10% or more of the sample, where indicated by the veteran themselves; the threshold of “10% of the sample” indicates that this need was unmet in five or more veterans.
Figure 1. Percentage distribution of participants’ unmet needs as rated by participants and clinicians
3.1 Welfare benefits
The most prevalent ‘unmet need’ across the sample of veterans interviewed was ‘welfare benefits’ (22%) which measures understanding around entitlement of benefits.
For veterans that had a serious unmet need with welfare benefits, this was related to:
- A lack of understanding of entitlement
- Pride in independence which prevented them finding out eligibility
- Believing they were entitled to additional money but were not receiving all of this for various reasons including misdiagnoses on behalf of professionals and mistrust in services
3.2 Psychological distress
It was noted in the analysis that the interviewers recognised psychological distress as an unmet need in 22% of the sample, whereas 18% of participants highlighted this as an unmet need.
This indicates a disparity in recognition or acknowledgement of the presence of psychological distress. Within the responses, there were recurring themes of thoughts of self-harm, non-suicidal self-injury, depression, anxiety, PTSD (often affecting social life), social isolation and embarrassment.
In considering barriers to access support for their psychological distress, the following themes emerged:
- Mistrust in services
- Pride/self-reliance
- Unrelatability to civilian-led services
- Lack of clinician/professional understanding of veteran-specific challenges
- Ineffective modes of communication
- Shame/embarrassment
3.3 Company of others
Company of others was measured by assessing whether veterans consider themselves happy with their current social life and whether they wish they had more contact with others.
The perceived barriers related to social life were:
- Mistrust and frustration with others
- Physical impairments
- Family commitments
- Mental health
3.4 Occupation
Occupation is a category that focuses on ‘daytime activities’ to ascertain whether veterans have enough to do during the day, whether that be full-time employment or activities.
Responses often related to:
- Lack of employment seeking skills
- Not accessing employment or activities due to mistrust of others
- Physical ailments
3.5 Physical health
Physical health refers to how well individuals feel physically and if they are able to receive treatment for any ailments.
Responses often referred to:
- Ailments related to their service
- Self-reliance
- Unworthy of support from others
- Ineffective past treatment
- Mistrust of services
3.6 Transport
Transport refers to an individual’s ability to use public transport and the potential impacts that this may have.
Difficulties tended to refer to:
- Financial issues affecting means to use transport
- Psychological distress when taking transport
3.7 Information about condition and treatment
This domain refers to an individual’s ability to understand the information provided by professionals when accessing services with regard to any conditions they are diagnosed with and/or treatment they receive.
It was evident in this theme that there was a lack of understanding of information provided thus, veterans would conduct their own research.
Themes present:
- Not understanding the information
- Self-reliance
- Barriers to accessing services
3.8 Money
The domain of money refers to the ability of veterans to manage their finances.
Recurring themes include:
- Spending habits related to addiction
- Low income
- Lack of budgeting skills