Session: The Costs of War: Consequences of Service to U.S. Soldiers, Their Loved Ones, and Their Communities


Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

3218.0: Monday, December 12, 2005: 12:30 PM-2:00 PM

Oral

The Costs of War: Consequences of Service to U.S. Soldiers, Their Loved Ones, and Their Communities

While recognizing that the war in Iraq has had, and will continue to have, significant detrimental effects on the health and welfare of Iraqis, this session will focus specifically on U.S. soldiers, their families and other loved ones, and the communities in which they live. Using an ecological approach, this session will include presentations by men and women in the military who served in Iraq, military families whose loved ones served in Iraq, and health practitioners, researchers, and educators who will 1) address the effects of military training and participation in the war on the psychological health of U. S. soldiers and, by extension, on their families and other loved ones; and 2) examine the repercussions of these effects at individual, community, and organizational levels.

Learning Objectives: By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Discuss the consequences – both at home and abroad – of the military training U.S. soldiers receive;
List the short term and long term psychological effects of the actions taken by U.S. soldiers during war on their mental health; and
Describe the current and projected, direct and indirect, costs of these effects on affected soldiers, their loved ones, and the communities in which they live and work.

Panelist(s):

Parents of Marine who committed suicide
Soldier who refused to return to Iraq
Former Marine recruiter living with PTSD
Gulf War Veteran
Mother of soldier sent back to Iraq with PTSD
Wife/Mother of two small children whose husband has PTSD
Kelly Dougherty
Nancy Lessin, MS
Anne Roesler, EdD, MPH, CHES

Organizer(s):

Anne Roesler, EdD, MPH, CHES
Nancy Lessin, MS

Moderator(s):

Anne Roesler, EdD, MPH, CHES

Facilitator(s):

Nancy Lessin, MS
Anne Roesler, EdD, MPH, CHES

12:30 PM

Costs of War: Consequences of Service to U.S. Soldiers, Their Loved Ones, and Their Communities
Anne L. Roesler, MPH, CHES, Nancy Lessin, MS

See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement and author's information.

Organized by:

Public Health Education and Health Promotion

Endorsed by:

APHA-Committee on Women's Rights; Peace Caucus; Public Health Nursing; Socialist Caucus; Women's Caucus

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA