{"id":5137,"date":"2021-11-10T16:48:54","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T21:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/?p=5137"},"modified":"2021-11-10T16:48:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T21:48:54","slug":"amanda-carroll-phd-examines-links-between-military-service-occupation-resilience-and-aging-in-veterans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/amanda-carroll-phd-examines-links-between-military-service-occupation-resilience-and-aging-in-veterans\/","title":{"rendered":"Amanda Carroll, PhD, Examines Links Between Military Service, Occupation, Resilience and Aging in Veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the fall of 2017, Amanda Carroll \u201909 (\u201912 MS, \u201921 PhD) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/amanda-carroll-phd-student-explores-intersection-between-resilience-and-occupation-among-veterans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">returned to UNC to pursue a PhD in occupational science<\/a> with a goal of better understanding the relationships between military service, occupational participation, resilience and successful aging for older U.S. military veterans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always been interested in military culture and the way it intersects with life,\u201d said Carroll.<\/p>\n<p>She comes from a military family, and her job as an occupational therapist introduced her to a veteran population that seemed to be particularly resilient \u2013 aging adults.<\/p>\n<h2>The Research: Military Experience and Resilience<\/h2>\n<p>According to Carroll, most veterans\u2019 research to date has focused on the negative, short-term impacts of military service, but less work has taken place to study the positive impacts of service, particularly in older adults.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring my work as an occupational therapist I began to notice that the aging veterans I worked with would call on their military training when they were dealing with adversity,\u201d said Carroll. \u201cFor example, I worked with a Vietnam War veteran who had gotten a hip replacement, and he told me, \u2018Don\u2019t worry, I was in Vietnam. I can get through this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Carroll came into the PhD program knowing she wanted to study how occupation, resilience, military service and healthy aging fit together. She launched her dissertation research, a mixed-methods study, in two phases:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Phase 1, a quantitative study, included surveys about military service demographics, resilience, occupational participation and successful aging.<\/li>\n<li>Phase 2, a qualitative study, included life history interviews informed by phase 1.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Though the COVID-19 pandemic paused all in-person interactions, Carroll was successful in surveying 41 U.S. veterans over age 65 in phase 1 and conducting nine virtual and phone-based life history interviews in phase 2.<\/p>\n<p>Of the veterans that participated in Carroll\u2019s research, the majority were Vietnam War veterans \u2013 the largest cohort of veterans in the U.S. \u2013 who are aging into older adulthood.<\/p>\n<h2>The Results: Resilience as a Positive Result of Military Service<\/h2>\n<p>Based on her quantitative research, Carroll found that occupation positively correlated with resilience, and that aging veterans had higher occupational participation than civilian older adults.<\/p>\n<p>Carroll had 9 female participants in her study, and learned more about their unique resilience within a masculine military culture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHaving a military identity was shown to be a strength for both male and female veterans that I interviewed,\u201d said Carroll. \u201cTheir roles as military identity was something they called upon as they went through stressful situations throughout their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Carroll found the role of social participation with other veterans and service members to be particularly important for connecting through shared experiences. Many veterans used Facebook and other social media platforms to connect with those they served with, which Carroll tied to an overarching sentiment of seeing the military as an extended family and the enduring impact of military culture.<\/p>\n<h2>Takeaways for Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy Research and Practice<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cMost research about veterans tends to have a negative tone and focuses on mortality, traumatic brain injuries and other issues veterans may face after their time in the military,\u201d says Carroll. \u201cThough this type of research is important and accurate, it\u2019s just as critical to capture the positive aspects of military service that benefit people throughout their lives. A strengths-based approach when working with this population cannot be understated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Carroll\u2019s research indicates that older veterans generally hold positive perceptions about their military service, and the influence of military culture tends to last over time. Therefore, her advice for occupational therapists is to understand the positive aspects of military identity and culture in order to build rapport with veterans and, hopefully, see better outcomes in therapy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA health sciences professional might not know a lot about military culture and doesn\u2019t factor that in when they encounter someone who is older,\u201d said Carroll. \u201cThat can be a lost opportunity, because their military service is still a salient part of their identity which has an impact on their health and well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Continuing Research and Work with Veteran Populations<\/h2>\n<p>Carroll recently moved to Montana where she now serves as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rocky.edu\/academics\/academic-programs\/graduate\/occupational-therapy-doctorate-program\/faculty-staff\/amanda\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Director of Research and Assistant Professor<\/a> for the Rocky Mountain College OTD Program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOccupational therapy is an applied science \u2013 I got my PhD to be engaged and use my skills to do research that makes a difference for a population I\u2019m interested and invested in,\u201d said Carroll.<\/p>\n<p>Montana has the second highest per capita population of veterans in the country \u2013 nearly 1 in 10 adults has served in the military. About 72 percent of those veterans live in rural areas and many struggle to access relevant healthcare.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVeterans often have different healthcare needs due to their service,\u201d said Carroll. \u201cI\u2019m hoping to help meet some of their needs here in Montana \u2013 there\u2019s a lot of opportunity for research, healthcare and occupational therapy, and I\u2019m eager to promote the health and wellbeing of veterans in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>The Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy is one of seven health sciences programs in the Department of Allied Health Sciences. The DAHS is housed in the UNC School of Medicine.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the fall of 2017, Amanda Carroll \u201909 (\u201912 MS, \u201921 PhD) returned to UNC to pursue a PhD in occupational science with a goal of better understanding the relationships between military service, occupational participation, resilience and successful aging for older U.S. military veterans. \u201cI\u2019ve always been interested in military culture and the way it &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/amanda-carroll-phd-examines-links-between-military-service-occupation-resilience-and-aging-in-veterans\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Amanda Carroll, PhD, Examines Links Between Military Service, Occupation, Resilience and Aging in Veterans\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111958,"featured_media":5138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","odd"],"acf":[],"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/559\/2021\/11\/Carroll-Headshot.jpeg","featured_image_medium":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/559\/2021\/11\/Carroll-Headshot-197x300.jpeg","featured_image_medium_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/559\/2021\/11\/Carroll-Headshot.jpeg","featured_image_large":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/559\/2021\/11\/Carroll-Headshot.jpeg","featured_image_thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/559\/2021\/11\/Carroll-Headshot-150x150.jpeg","featured_image_alt":"Amanda Carroll Headshot","category_details":[{"name":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/category\/news\/"}],"tag_details":[],"_links_to":[],"_links_to_target":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111958"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/ocsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}