Let Me Tell You Sister: Seeking Women's Health Care in Deployed Settings

Nelson, Jenenne P.

Tuesday, 1 November 2011: 10:20 AM

Candy Wilson, PhD, APRN
59 Cspg/Sgvus, US Air Force, Lackland AFB, TX
Jenenne P. Nelson, PhD, CNS, RN
Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, CO

Learning Objective 1: The audience will learn about women who seek women’s health care in a deployed military setting.

Learning Objective 2: The audience will learn about the military culture and women’s experiences in deployment.

Military women are regularly deployed to austere settings for war and humanitarian missions. The deployed population consists of 10% women. Women’s sex-specific health care needs pose a special challenge for women and health care providers in an austere or ship setting where anonymity cannot be guaranteed, self-care supplies are limited, and health care professionals’ lack confidence to care for private gynecological concerns. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the illness behaviors of deployed military women in regards to their genitourinary (GU) health. Ethnography was used to explore and analyze the data because the military has been described as its own culture. The sample consisted of 43 military women from the US Army, Air Force, and Navy who were either deployed or had been deployed within the past year. The researchers uncovered three themes, which included (1) The Sphere of Control, (2) The Dynamics of Trust, and (3) Life in a Deployed Setting. This study is significant to nursing research because it exposes the influence of culture on GU symptom management. Recommendations from this investigation include: (1) a need for better incremental, pre deployment and in theater education for women and medics; (2) informing leaders about the need to ensure the supply of self-care treatments and women’s feminine hygiene products are available; and (3) promoting the role of family support stateside as a resource for information, supplies, and emotional support. This study was funded by the TriService Nursing Research Program (N08-P03).

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