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BACKGROUND/RATIONALE:
In an earlier study of former PTSD disability applicants that we conducted, 13% of male Gulf War era veterans said they had been sexually assaulted while they were in the service, and 5% said they had been sexually assaulted since leaving the service. These rates were almost 13 times higher than the lifetime cumulative incidence reported for adult male civilians and 5 times higher than the prevalence of in-service sexual assault reported by other male wartime veterans in the study. However, our sample of male Gulf War era veterans was small (n = 60), raising concerns about generalizability and limiting our ability to identify reasons for this group's apparently higher risk of in-service sexual assault compared to other wartime veterans with PTSD disability.
OBJECTIVE(S):
Our objective was to replicate or refute these findings in a larger, more representative sample of male, Gulf War era veterans who had applied for PTSD disability benefits. Additional objectives were to evaluate the effectiveness and efficacy of the VA's mandated sexual assault screening program in these men, to identify factors that facilitated or impeded such screening, and to identify risk or protective factors associated with experiencing in-service sexual assault.
METHODS:
Following pilot testing to identify optimal data collection strategies, we fielded a mailed, cross-sectional survey to 2,078 male Gulf War era veterans. The mailed questionnaire contains several well-validated measures. Survey responses will be supplemented with VA administrative data, and we will use a rich sampling frame to ascertain and adjust for non-response bias.
FINDINGS/RESULTS:
The effective response rate currently stands at 72.3%. Data collection is slated to end July 31, 2008.
IMPACT:
Compared to women, men are particularly unlikely to be screened for military sexual trauma, despite Congressional mandates. This may be in part because clinicians do not have accurate information about the prevalence of sexual assault in male veterans. This study will redress this limitation in a high-risk, high-needs group. To our knowledge, we are also the first to evaluate the efficacy of mandated sexual trauma screening in the VA in any patient population. Our model of sexual assault risk, if validated, could be used to develop more effective interventions for reducing military sexual assault's incidence in men.
PUBLICATIONS:
None at this time.
DRA:
Mental Illness, Military and Environmental Exposures
DRE:
Treatment, Quality of Care
Keywords:
PTSD, Sexual abuse, Gulf War I
MeSH Terms:
none
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