Conceptualizing care partners' burden, stress, and support for reintegrating veterans: A mixed methods study

Rattray, N., Flanagan, M., Mann, A., Danson, L., Do, A.-N., Natividad, D., & Spontak, K. (2023). Conceptualizing care partners' burden, stress, and support for reintegrating veterans: A mixed methods study. Frontiers in Public Health, 11, Article 1295627. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1295627

Care partners are people who provide informal, instrumental, or emotional support to a Veteran with injuries as they transition out of the military. This mixed-methods study explored the experiences of caregiving burden (i.e., the stress and strain related to their role) of care partners of Veterans with invisible injuries (e.g., traumatic brain injury). 36 care partners selfreported their caregiving burden (i.e., the extent to which caregiving causes stress), perceived stress, flourishing (e.g., happiness, meaning and purpose), relationship quality with their Veteran, and resources for coping with caregiving (e.g., religious group, online resources). Interviews were also conducted to supplement the survey responses. Overall, greater caregiving burden among care partners was related to more stress, less flourishing, and lower relationship quality with their Veteran. The findings highlight trends in resource engagement.

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