Healthcare Providers’ Perspectives on Barriers and Facilitators to Caring for Active Duty And Veteran Women

Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis:

Women are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. military population, representing over 16 percent of active duty forces in 2018 and over nine percent of veterans in 2015. Both groups of women face unique health challenges related to their military experience and exposures. Research shows the number of women using the Military Healthcare System (MHS)/U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has increased, but most of these women receive healthcare in civilian settings. While community healthcare providers (HCPs) are an increasingly important part of healthcare delivery for active duty and veteran women, research suggests gaps in provider knowledge and understanding of their unique health needs.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health (OWH) is building on previous collaborations with the VA and the Department of Defense to address health needs for women in the military by assessing HCPs’ experiences, facilitators for, and barriers to caring for active duty and veteran women. We are also investigating provider education and training needs.

Methods:

OWH is conducting 16 semi-structured telephone IDIs with physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners in primary care and obstetrics-gynecology who care for active duty and veteran women in non-VA/MHS settings. All IDI participants are being recruited from geographic locations with high populations of active duty and veteran women.

IDI questions explore providers’ perspectives of this population’s health needs such as their experiences providing care, barriers to addressing health needs, clinical resources they would find useful, and more. To complement the IDIs, OWH is also conducting 16 focus groups among active duty and veteran women to assess their personal experiences receiving care and treatment in community settings.

Results:

Results from the IDIs will be available in June 2019 and will be unveiled at the August conference. Results will outline barriers and facilitators HCPs face in caring for active duty and veteran women and identify education needs around best practices for caring for these groups of women. Results will also show how active duty and veteran women experience care and treatment and give insights to practices that contribute to both positive and negative care outcomes.

Conclusions:

Insights gleaned from the IDIs will improve HCP outreach and engagement. It will also inform OWH’s communication strategy around health needs for active duty and veteran women and provide the foundation for the development of trainings and other educational platforms for health professionals to improve healthcare delivery.

Implications for research and/or practice:

Findings from the IDIs will inform communications and marketing efforts that optimize healthcare delivery for active duty and veteran women. Exploring both provider and consumer perspectives — through IDIs and focus groups — provides a holistic view of the barriers and facilitators to quality healthcare and informs development of messages and informational/training resources.