Wounded Healers: A Summary of the Vietnam Nurse Veteran Project

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Abstract
The Vietnam Nurse Veteran Project was designed to identify stressors and after-effects experienced by nurses from the psychosocial milieu peculiar to the Vietnam War. The sample included 137 nurse veterans who completed a 52-item questionnaire designed by the author and a co-investigator. Content analysis of the data identified eight specific stressors in the nurses' environment in Vietnam, such as: The young age and severity of the casualties, danger to the nurses' lives, sexual harassment, and survival guilt. Fourteen adverse after-effects were identified and affected more than one-third (39%) of the respondents. Some of the after-effects included: nightmares, flashbacks, career problems, and physical or emotional problems. This study reveals that nurses, like combat veterans have suffered adverse after-effects from the Vietnam War, although the stressors of the war, for the nurses, were markedly different.

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