The mental health and social wellbeing of uk ex-service personnel: the resettlement process
The King’s Centre for Military Health Research has collected data on a cohort of approximately 10,000 UK Service personnel from 2003-2008, some of whom (n = 2,253) have left the military over the period in which data collection has occurred. This thesis focuses on those individuals previously in regular (i.e. full-time) service who have left the Armed Forces. At the point of leaving, personnel undertake a number of activities intended to facilitate their transition into civilian life and employment; this is termed "resettlement". Concern is often raised about the ex-Service community’s mental health, homelessness, re-entry into the civilian workforce, and general reintegration into civilian society. Working with this cohort data, this thesis investigated the demographics of Service personnel undertaking resettlement; their transition outcomes in terms of mental health, employment, housing situation, social network, and other markers of social exclusion; the relationships between these outcomes; and the effects of resettlement. Primarily, this thesis shows that resettlement provision has an effect on transition as a result of two relationships – it is associated with higher likelihood of employment, and independently with better mental health. Through these relationships, resettlement has indirect effects on every other domain of transition. Additionally, I have demonstrated that unsuccessful transition is related to pre-enlistment adversity, and lacking a long-term partner. Military factors play relatively little role in post-Service outcomes, although the method by which the individual leaves Service can affect their transition; those who leave in an abrupt, unplanned manner (including those with medical discharges) are more at risk. Outcomes improve with time after the individual has left service. Overall, this thesis shows that ex-Service personnel do not generally have difficulty transitioning to civilian life, and this transition is facilitated by undertaking resettlement. Nonetheless, some groups are at greater risk of poor transition outcomes.
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