Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Health Education and Promotion

Advisor

Theresa Gibble

Abstract

An estimated 38.4% of military women have experienced military sexual trauma (MST) at some point in their careers. Because MST experiences can be confounding, navigating beliefs toward treatment resources and seeking help can be challenging. The problem under study was that no literature examined multiple constructs of the health belief model (HBM) together as a foundational tool to identify perceptions of help-seeking intentions among female veterans with MST experiences. Guided by the HBM, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between health motives, perceived severity of emotional or nervous problems, perceived benefits of getting help for emotional and nervous problems, perceived barriers to getting help for emotional and nervous problems, and help-seeking intentions among female veterans who have experienced MST. Using survey data collected from 120 participants, a multiple linear regression showed that the HBM constructs account for 41% of the variation in help-seeking intentions. Results also indicated that health motivation and perceived benefits significantly correlate with increased help-seeking intentions, which informs health professionals about which health constructs should be included in outreach efforts. Additional insights include that perceived barriers did not significantly predict help-seeking intentions. Therefore, it is suggested that health professionals focus less on barriers to seeking help and provide information to female veterans about the benefits of seeking help, which may increase health treatment utilization. Female veterans with MST experiences may benefit from the results of this study by further understanding their help-seeking intentions and having the findings used to inform best practices in health education.

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