Changes in psychiatric status and service use associated with continued compensation seeking after claim determinations for posttraumatic stress disorder
✍ Scribed by Nina A. Sayer; Michele Spoont; David B. Nelson; Barb Clothier; Maureen Murdoch
- Publisher
- Springer
- Year
- 2008
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 108 KB
- Volume
- 21
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0894-9867
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
This study examined changes in psychiatric status and use of VA mental health services after the adjudication of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability claims for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a sample of 101 veteran claimants. Hypotheses were based on the premise that the claims process may create incentives for veterans to demonstrate illness. After the PTSD claim determination, half the sample had filed or planned to file a claim for a rating increase or an appeal and thus remained compensation seeking. Contradicting the authors' hypotheses, psychiatric status did not improve and treatment drop‐out rates did not increase among veterans who were no longer compensation seeking after the claim determination. Results have implications for the design and direction of future research.