Severe Pain in Veteran Students

Severe pain is prevalent in military veterans. Veteran students face significant challenges in attaining academic success. Understanding the impact of pain on learning of veteran students is very important to better advocate for veteran students and promote social responsibility and cultural competence.

The objective of the research was to determine pain in veteran students compared to nonveteran students.

The research design was a cross-sectional non-experimental survey.

The survey included a total of 6 questions adapted from the National Health Interview Survey and was administered using SurveyGizmo.

Veteran students are 4.3 times more likely to report severe pain than nonveteran students. 98.6% veteran students reported pain and 22.2% had severe pain. 25.0% of veteran students reported the ability to carry out daily work limited by pain. Only 4.2% of veteran students reported sufficient resources on campus helping them deal with pain, while 58.3% reported sufficient resources off campus.

Veteran students had statistically significantly more severe pain. They were more limited by pain in carrying out daily work and reported fewer resources to help them cope with pain. The data can inform strategies for advocacy activities of physical therapists and assessment for culturally competent education.