Abstract
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) offers spiritual supports to Veterans nationally through its Chaplaincy Service and its Whole Health initiative. There are no systematic efforts to extend spiritual supports to Veterans re-entering community post-incarceration, however. Thus, the full potential of spiritual supports in bolstering well-being and minimizing recidivism during re-entry may not be fully realized. To explore this potential and ways to optimize it for re-entry Veterans, we conducted an exploratory needs assessment. We interviewed six re-entry Veterans and six staff members who work in re-entry to explore perceived spiritual needs in re-entry and ways to address such needs; we analyzed interview data thematically. Several themes emerged: 1) Spirituality as pluralistic; 2) Positive impacts of spirituality; 3) Tensions around the immediacy of spiritual needs; 4) Current spiritual supports and their limitations; and 5) Suggested improvements. We propose initiatives which VHA might pursue to verify and support re-entry Veterans’ spiritual needs.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
