Traumatic amputation: Psychosocial adjustment of six Army women to loss of one or more limbs

1. Traumatic amputation: Psychosocial adjustment of six Army women to loss of one or more limbs Janet K. Cater, PhD, CRC

2. Aim • Use phenomenological approach to gain in-depth understanding of how military women adjust to traumatic limb loss. • Relevance • More than 220,000 U.S. servicewomen fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. • Little published research on the psychosocial adjustment of women to traumatic amputation.

3. Methods • 6 female Army/Army National Guard members answered 3 open-ended questions: • “Please tell me a little bit about your background and how you came to join the military.” • “In what ways, if any, has being injured changed your life?” • “If you were to walk into a hospital today as a peer visitor to visit a servicewoman who had just lost a limb, what would you tell her?” • All interviews were conducted via Skype or V-Tel and ranged from 90 to 120 min.

4. Results • Common themes: • Personal safety fears. • Body image issues. • Grief. • Loss. • Recovery in military environment promoted “kick-butt” attitude. • These servicewomen reported that positive attitude, social support, personal courage, resiliency, military training, humor, and belief their loss had meaning most influenced their recovery.

5. Conclusion • This phenomenological research study suggests that military women have increased resiliency to traumatic limb loss, particularly when they recover in military culture. • Study supports earlier research indicating social support and positive attitude were important factors in adjustment.