Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I represent a group of researchers at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax who are conducting qualitative work emphasizing the impact of operational stress injuries, most notably PTSD, on veteran families. Some of us have been involved in this research for about 25 years.
I have a number of studies I could highlight, but I'm going to give a very high-level overview of one that I think is germane to the work ongoing by this group. The results of that study focus directly on question 3 and question 7 that are guiding your work.
This is a study that's near completion, which focuses on the impact of PTSD on family members. Some of the outcomes that I think are relevant to your agenda are that the imperative to care for the veteran becomes the central organizing facet of family experience. Our study results reveal that changes in family structure, including role redefinition and reallocation, are very common outcomes throughout the trajectory of supporting the veteran. Spouses described their experience assuming full responsibility for family functioning and changing routines while also providing care for the veteran, and for many this is a change from the status quo.
In some cases children share this responsibility, enacting role behaviour incompatible with their stage of development, which has consequences for them throughout their life course.
Emotional stress, relationship tensions, and financial stress as a result of changes in employment have also been commonly cited as impacts.
Spouses report that they act as caregivers to the veteran, performing daily work, mediating and buffering the stresses that are often felt by the veteran. In fact, the spouse is often considered to be a linchpin. As a consequence, spouses themselves experience burnout and their own health problems. Throughout, family members are reconciling, in many instances, the loss of the veteran as he or she once was.
It also should be noted that family members exhibit capacities for coping and adaptation. One of the themes in my research program is resilience, which I won't get into here, but it is one of the other outcomes.
Why do these mental health and well-being impacts on families matter, and how are they relevant to your work? Because the relationship between the veteran's mental health and well-being through the military to civilian transition is bidirectional and interdependent, the veteran's mental health and well-being impacts the family, and correspondingly, the family's mental health and well-being impacts the veteran. If the family is struggling, the veteran will as well, and this, of course, would be a significant barrier to health and well-being through the military to civilian transition.
Relevant to question 7, our study also reveals that formal and informal support systems are also integral. Family and friends obviously play a major role, but on the formal side, our participants report that military-centric groups, as compared to civilian social support groups, in many cases are more helpful. Social and geographic isolation can be a barrier, though, as is the lack of high-quality information about interventions and supports, administrative delays, system navigation issues—all matters that I'm sure your group is considering—as well as the coordination of administrative processes. These barriers have acted to cause and compound gaps in service to the veteran and his or her family.
Participants have offered many suggestions about the way to move forward, and remember, these are families who are offering these suggestions. Family involvement in the care of the veteran is essential; a proactive approach, moving further back in the MCT trajectory, so involving families onboard before the member releases. And a collaborative model of service delivery is also recommended, one that involves formal and informal systems working together to address vulnerabilities, increase access, and maximize veteran and family strengths.
Thank you.