Applying the social ecological framework to enhance wellness for student veterans

Abstract

Objective

To increase campus-wide wellness for student service members/veterans (SSM/Vs), student services professionals, healthcare providers, and faculty collaborated to implement the Social Ecological Framework (SEF) over a three-year project.

Participants

One thousand six hundred and seventy eight SSM/Vs enrolled at a medium-sized doctoral granting institution with high-research activity (R2). SSM/Vs were directly and indirectly impacted through a series of initiatives, including stigma reduction efforts, wellness promotion, faculty training, therapeutic services, and peer-advising.

Methods

Data collection included student success measures such as retention, student satisfaction/feedback, peer-advising meetings, psychotherapy sessions, TBI screenings, and growth measures from a mental health stigma scale.

Results

A significant increase in therapy sessions conducted at the Wellness Center, increased faculty trainings, new and strengthened partnerships, and an increase in SSM/V retention.

Conclusions

Results suggest that collaborative efforts applying the SEF can create improved educational conditions and outcomes for SSM/Vs. A review of SSM/V wellness literature and suggestions for other campuses are offered.

Keywords:

• Mental health
• public health
• social ecological framework
• student veterans

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.