Traumatology, Vol 30(1), Mar 2024, 6-16; doi:10.1037/trm0000240
Partners of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-affected veterans experience unique challenges and stressors that may benefit from engagement with mental health services. Although mental health services have been designed to support partners of PTSD-affected veterans, little is known about the particular factors and/or events that facilitate or hinder engagement with existing services. To fill this gap, this enhanced critical incident technique study explored factors influencing mental health service use among 16 Canadian female partners (English-speaking) of male veterans with PTSD. The findings revealed 150 critical incidents of what helped, hindered, or would have helped, partners’ continued use of mental health services. Four categories of critical incidents emerged following data analysis: (a) personal-level, (b) spousal- and peer-level, (c) system- and institutional-level, and (d) provider- and service-level. The findings are discussed with respect to implications for future practice and policy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)