British Non-Regular Services Health Professional Veterans’ Perceptions of their Social Relationships, Support and Sharing of Gulf War (1991) Experiences in the 18 Months Post-War

Volume 2 - Issue 3

Deidre Wild*

Received: February 19, 2020;   Published: March 02, 2020

DOI: 10.26717/CTBB.MS.ID.000138

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Abstract

Using data collected in 1991 and recently re-analysed, this article describes and compares 95 British Voluntary Services and Reserve health professional veterans’ (HPVs) perceptions of their social relationships, their uptake of formal and informal support (including advice), and the need to talk about their Gulf War (1991) experiences in the 18 months after their return home. The study design comprised three six monthly postal questionnaire surveys issued over eighteen months post-war. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered in each survey. As the 95 participant veterans made the transition from soldier to civilian, at 12 months post-war there was a peak in their receipt of formal and informal social support, and a concurrent marked increase in difficult social relationships from the first questionnaire’s findings. Other war-experienced veterans were the preferred post war donors of support and to a lesser extent family members. Social sharing was prevalent in the first six months post war but the veterans found it increasingly difficult to talk about their experiences even though they wanted to across the remaining postwar periods. In effect by the end of the study, three spheres of some veterans’ sense of social wellbeing were compromised with those at home, at work, and in their wider social life.

Keywords: Gulf War; British; health professional veterans; social relationships, support and sharing

Abbreviations: HPVs: health professional veterans; GW: Gulf War; VS: Voluntary Services; TA: Territorial Army

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