Service Member Need and Supportive Services Use by Military/Veteran Spouses

Spouse predisposing, enabling, and need factors and service member need variables were examined to explain number of supportive services used by spouses. Service use was analyzed with stagewise regression for 227 spouses. Spouses who used supportive services reported worse depression, anxiety, resilience, and general health, and more service member care difficulties. By themselves, spouse predisposing, enabling, and need variables did not significantly explain spouse service use. Service member need variables significantly explained 16.2% of spouse variance and 36.7% of service member variance. Spouses who were caregivers were more distressed, and they and their service members used more services. Targeted help with caregiving may be a needed addition to reintegration assistance.