This qualitative study explored the domains of gender, ethnicity, and military association in a population of women veterans as these domains related to the women's access to and use of health care services and assessed barriers to the use of health services and suggestions for improving them. The study found that a significant proportion of the participants had experienced some form of gender discrimination in the military, through segregation or sexual harassment, and that their perceptions of the Veterans Administration health care system were framed by their military, ethnic/racial, and gender experiences.
References
1.
Allen, I. (1986). Posttraumatic stress disorder among Black Vietnam veterans . Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 37, 55-61 .
2.
Damron-Rodriguez, J. A. (2000). Access to care. In B. Berkman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of elder care (pp. 3-5). New York: Springer .
3.
Department of Veterans Affairs. (1995). National survey of veterans. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office .
4.
General Accounting Office. (1992). VA health care for women: Despite progress, improvements needed. Washington, DC: Author .
5.
General Accounting Office. (1999). VA health care for women: Progress made in providing services to woman veterans. Washington, DC: Author . Available from http://www.gao.org/hehs-99-38
6.
Harada, N., Damron-Rodriguez, J. A., Villa, V. M., Washington, D. L., Dhanani, S., & Shon, H. P. (2002). Veteran identity and race/ethnicity: Influences on VA outpatient care utilization . Medical Care, 40, I-117-I-128 .
7.
Holm, J. M. (1994). Women in the armed forces. In J. E. Jessup & L. B. Ketz (Eds.), Encyclopedia of the American military (Vol. 3, pp. 1987-2026). New York: Scribner .
8.
Howard, J. A. (2000). Social psychology of identity . Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 367-393 .
9.
Kressin, N. R., Skinner, K., Sullivan, L., Miller, D. R., Frayne, S., & Kazis, L. (1999). Patient satisfaction with Department of Veterans Affairs health care: Do women differ from men? Military Medicine, 164, 283-288 .
10.
Office of the Actuary. (2002). Estimates and projections of the veteran population, 1990-2030, vetpop2001. Washington, DC: Department of Veterans Affairs .
11.
Skinner, K., & Furey, J. (1998). The focus on women veterans who use Veterans Administration health care: The Veterans Administration women's health project . Military Medicine, 163, 761-766 .
12.
Weiss, T. W. (1995). Improvements in VA health services for women veterans . Women and Health, 23(2), 1-12 .
13.
Weiss, T. W., & Ashton, C. M. (1994). Access of women veterans to Veterans Affairs hospitals . Women and Health, 21(2-3), 23-38 .
