Who sees the chaplain? Characteristics and correlates of behavioral health care-seeking in the military

• Published in: Journal of health care chaplaincy Vol. 28; no. 1; pp. 1 - 12
• Main Authors: Kazman, Josh B., Gutierrez, Ian A., Schuler, Eric R., Alders, Elizabeth A., Myatt, Craig A., Jeffery, Diana D., Charters, Kathleen G., Deuster, Patricia A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Routledge 2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Chaplains; Clergy; Counseling; Delivery of Health Care; duty; Health behavior; Health care; Help seeking behavior; Humans; Medical diagnosis; Mental health; Military Personnel; Psychiatry; Servicemen; Social Stigma; Stigma; U.S. military; duty; stigma; U.S. military; counseling; mental health
• ISSN: 0885-4726; 1528-6916
• DOI: 10.1080/08854726.2020.1723193

Chaplains have a critical role in the military organization and health care. Using the 2015 Health-Related Behavior Survey, we compared Service Members' (SM) use of chaplaincy services to their use of other behavioral health (BH) services: 26.2% used any BH service and 8.0% met with a chaplain/clergyperson for BH. Among the 36.5% of SM who self-identified needing counseling, percentages of SMs receiving counseling were lower among those perceiving stigma associated with BH services (51.0%) than those not perceiving stigma (66.7%). Of SM who sought counseling: many used multiple counseling sources (48.0%), with the most common sources being a BH professional (71.6%), a medical doctor (37.5%), and a chaplain or clergyperson (30.2%). SM who met with a chaplain or clergyperson had more severe histories of abuse, were more likely to have a mental health diagnosis, and had fewer positive health behaviors than SM who sought other sources of counseling.