Kenny (Jae) Cho

Professor Hays

RHET 105

24 February 2016

Our Turn to Protect the Homeless Veterans

Annotated Bibliography

Working Thesis:

We need to fix the issue of military veterans becoming homeless and facing poverty by being aware of these problems and acting upon the issue, as there are many military personnel who return from putting their lives on the line to serve the country, only to face such tragedies.

 

Citation/Summary/Analysis:

Applewhite, Steven Lozano. “Homeless Veterans: Perspectives on Social Services use.”

Social work 42 (1997): 19-30. ProQuest. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.

According to the study, directed by the VA (Veterans Affairs), of the focus group composed of homeless veterans, reasons of why veterans face such poverty were diverse. Some of the causes were alcohol and drug addiction, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, lack of job skills, public rejection, feeling of worthlessness, and etc. Then they studied these reasons more in depth, coming to conclusions like society’s fear of veterans, age discrimination, racism, and etc. Many professionals such as psychologists, therapists, and administrators analyzed the results and came up with a couple of suggestions for some of these specific issues.

This study shows very important themes that are extremely relevant to my paper. A big part of my paper will be about the reasons why veterans are homeless and majority of the reasons are listed on this article. This seems very reliable as many professionals have joined in together to analyze this study but most importantly, veterans facing poverty themselves were the participants, which shows me their views of the reason why poverty is a problem for them directly. It is enriched with details and analysis and I will use these to show what problems cause veterans to become homeless. It is a scholarly source because it contains experiments/studies and is peer reviewed because it is said that it has been peer reviewed. It is also a primary source. It is not so current but I can still rely on this because veterans still face poverty to this day.

Carlson, Eve B., et al. “Traumatic Stressor Exposure And Post-Traumatic Symptoms In Homeless Veterans.” Military Medicine 178.9 (2013): 970-973. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Mar. 2016.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the potential risk of PTSD and homelessness in veterans. They examined trauma exposures with veterans and homeless veterans. They found out that exposure to both military and civilian persistent post-traumatic distress (PPD) events was associated with higher risk of PTSD than those with no PPD.

This source will help me understand better on the factors that cause PTSD. This is a scholarly source and a primary source because the study was done and written by the writer. This article is peer reviewed because it has the word “refereed” in it. It is published in 2013 so it’s current and is very enriched with very detailed information.

Hamilton, Alison B., Ines Poza, and Donna L. Washington. ““Homelessness And Trauma Go Hand-In-Hand”: Pathways To Homelessness Among Women Veterans.” Women’s Health Issues 21.4 (2011): S203-S209. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Mar. 2016.

This study analyzed the reasons of why female veterans specifically were homeless. The VA conducted a survey on 29 women and carefully examined and distributed them into different categories with factors such as age. Many reasons why these veterans were homeless were diverse: PTSD, substance use, unemployment, post-military interpersonal violence, abuse, and termination of intimate relationships, and etc.

This specific study can be used along with my other sources that talk about female veterans. It is a primary and a scholarly source and professionals within the VA conducted the study so it is reliable. It was published in 2011 so it is relatively current.

Meshad, Shad. “BrainLine Military.” Why Are So Many Veterans Homeless? Brain Injury Journey Magazine, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.

Shad Meshad who is a psychiatric social worker studied veterans’ brain issues and its correlation with them being homeless. His study showed that these veterans had a hard time adjusting to their original life of being with their families, working, and going to school because at the same time they were transitioning to their civilian life, they had to deal with PTSD. Shad also stated that each traumatic disorder is unique because each veteran had different experiences. VA has been working to take care of these veterans but because there are so many of them, it’s very difficult to help all of the veterans. Shad believes that we need to act even as small as donations to volunteering as a society.

This source has great information on veterans’ transitions from war to their civilian life. I’d say this is pretty reliable because it was written by a psychiatric social worker that dealt with many military personnel. I will use this part to add details to PTSD’s effects on veterans and why it keeps them from adjusting to normal life. This is a primary source and a scholarly source because it contains information about studies done. This is current as it was published in 2015.

Montgomery, Ann Elizabeth, and Thomas H. Byrne. “Services Utilization Among Recently Homeless Veterans: A Gender-Based Comparison.” Military Medicine 179.3 (2014): 236-239. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Mar. 2016.

This study was to find out the differences in the utilization of the VA program between the two genders of homeless veterans. They took a certain amount of participants of male veterans and female veterans and observed whether they use the VA or not and looked into detail on which gender uses what section of the VA more. It turned out that both female and male veterans use the VA itself equally but their sections differ a bit in a way that male veterans use more of substance abuse therapy.

This is a good source for me because I can now include studies of both genders of homeless veterans. It will tie in nicely with the other source that talks about the VA uses. It is reliable because the VA itself did the study. This source would be considered a primary and a scholarly source because it includes a first hand study. It was published in 2014 so it is relatively current.

Peterson, Rachel, et al. “Identifying Homelessness Among Veterans Using VA Administrative Data: Opportunities To Expand Detection Criteria.” Plos ONE 10.7 (2015): 1-14. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Mar. 2016.

This article helps identify in depth what a true definition of homeless veteran really is by making categories. This is how the VA defines a homeless veteran. Homeless-diagnostic codes were used to categorize the veterans. They examined health records, current living situations, and relative information.

This source will help me set a definition of who a homeless veteran is. It is reliable as this is a scholarly and a primary source. It was published in 2015 so it is current.

Sautter, Frederic J., et al. “Efficacy of Structured Approach Therapy in Reducing PTSD in Returning Veterans: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” Psychological Services 12.3 (2015): 199-212. ProQuest. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.

U.S. military deployed in support of OIF and OEF showed high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder. Because of PTSD, relationship with family or any other people were disrupted in many cases. The professionals put 69 returning veterans from OIF and OEF and their loved ones together on a study list. They were examined throughout 12 sessions and went through communication training, anxiety management, emotion regulation, and activation of positive emotions. The veterans showed aggression more frequently than before but as the sessions were coming to an end, results showed that these SAT treatments actually helped these veterans.

This is a great source on PTSD treatment part of my paper. It is reliable because it was done by professionals and veterans were the participants. It has details of their starting process up to the ending results, which I can use on my PTSD part of the paper to support my argument. This is a primary source and a scholarly source because it contains information about studies done. It is peer reviewed because it says it was refereed. This is current as it was published in 2015.

Stovall, Jeffrey, and others. “Use of Psychiatric Services by Homeless Veterans.” Journal of mental health administration 24.1 (1997): 98-102. ProQuest. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.

According to this specific study of the comparison between homeless veterans and domiciled veterans, it was proved that they were indeed very different. The homeless veterans had more severe mental disabilities and suffered more extremely from PTSD than those veterans of the domiciled group because they had no family or any relations in the society. Domiciled veterans actually had a consistent progress of getting better from the therapy sessions. This proved social relationships plays a big role in veterans getting over mental illnesses.

This actually has great amount of details I can add to my paper on the part where I talk about PTSD. Information on the differences of these two groups of veterans is very valuable. It is reliable since it was a study done by the VA itself. I will use this source to support my argument about how having some kind of relationship with anyone helps veterans get over mental illnesses easier and faster. This is a primary source as well as a scholarly source as it talks about first handed study they have done. It is not so current but it can still be used for my paper because relevancy is still high even today when it comes to veterans facing PTSD.