Formal help-seeking

The KCMHR cohort study has completed its fourth phase (2022-23), providing an abundance of information on health and wellbeing of serving and ex-serving members of the UK Armed Forces over the past twenty years, including the duration of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.

Royal British Legion funded some independent research to look at three key topics, including Formal help-seeking behaviours. It is important to note that findings relate specifically to over 2,000 ex-serving Regulars within the phase 4 sample who were mostly male (91%), with a mean age of 50 years and over half (59%) were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Overview of findings

Ex-serving participants reported whether they experienced physical health problems, stress/emotional/mental health (SEMH) problems or alcohol-related problems in the last three years and whether they sought formal help for these problems.

The most common problems, in order, were: physical, SEMH and alcohol problems. Fewer people appeared to seek help as problems were less common. For example,

·         Two thirds of serving and ex-serving personnel experienced a physical health problem, with almost all seeking help

·         Nearly half reported a stress/emotional/mental health problem, and half of these sought help

·         One in twelve reported a recent alcohol problem and only two thirds of these accessed formal help

·         We found that most ex-serving participants reported accessing mainstream NHS services for stress/emotional/mental health problems over NHS and other veteran-specific support.

Research team: : Laura Palmer, Aarya Meynon, Sofia Franchini, Rupa Bhundia, Deirdre MacManus, Marie-Louise Sharp, Nicola T. Fear, Sharon Stevelink

Funder: Royal British Legion