The health and wellbeing outcomes of employment and vocational-based interventions for veterans : a scoping review

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Hutcheon, Danielle and Rendall, Jack and McMillan, Carolyn and Dall, Philippa and Morrison-Glancy, Shirley and Steiner, Artur (2025) The health and wellbeing outcomes of employment and vocational-based interventions for veterans : a scoping review. Journal of Veteran Studies, 11 (1). pp. 95-111. ISSN 2470-4768 (https://doi.org/10.21061/jvs.v11i1.638)

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Abstract

Governments worldwide have invested in employment programs for veterans to aid the transition from military to civilian life, yet there is a lack of evidence of their impacts. This study outlines existing evidence of the health and wellbeing impacts of employment and vocational-based interventions. A scoping literature review was conducted between October 2022 and August 2023 to identify peer-reviewed literature that reported data on health and wellbeing outcomes from studies of employment or vocational-based interventions with veterans. A total of eight articles were included in the final review. Findings showed that academic literature surrounding the impact of employment or vocational-based employment programs on veterans’ health and wellbeing is lacking. While studies of employment and vocational-based interventions show some positive impacts on veterans, findings derive from a few studies conducted in one country— the United States. Additionally, existing studies fail to identify how and why health and wellbeing outcomes occur. These results suggest a requirement for further research to inform evidence-based policy and practice. This includes broadening the geographical scope of studies, using qualitative approaches, exploring individual components of employment and vocational-based programs for veterans, and considering pre- and postintervention contexts.

ORCID iDs

Hutcheon, Danielle, Rendall, Jack, McMillan, Carolyn ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4362-5222, Dall, Philippa, Morrison-Glancy, Shirley and Steiner, Artur;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)