Reintegration Issues of Military Nurses: A Focus Group Approach

This qualitative study had three aims: (1) to interview a group of military nurses who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq, (2) to determine if the quantitative findings of the larger electronic survey resonated with veteran nurses, and (3) to identify other concerns and issues that were not addressed adequately in the survey.

This was a focus group convened to review the results of survey research conducted by Stanton and colleagues in 2016. Based on informal feedback from survey respondents, the investigators decided that a follow-up qualitative study with veteran nurses in the focus group could review the data and analysis from this survey. The group met and reviewed the results and their conversations were recorded and analyzed.

A multistage focus group approach was used to convene three meetings of nurse veterans (N = 8) who had been deployed and had experienced the reintegration process.

During all three interviews, participants reinforced many of the findings of the survey by Stanton and colleagues. A range of life course issues beyond the scope of the electronic survey was also identified by the focus group as problematic during deployment and as challenging during the reintegration process.

Military nurses and other medical caregiver groups might benefit from proactive planning and training that encourage/underscore the benefits of spirituality and mindfulness and other strategies that prepare and support them. Specific resources/toolkits that target common life course concerns have been initiated.