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Abstract Military sexual trauma (MST) is a prevalent issue with many concomitants. In the last 25 + years there has been an increase in VA policies aimed to support recovery of MST victims, but there is limited research investigating their success. There have also been military policies enacted to prevent sexual assault and improve the care of personnel reporting sexual assault but no research on their effectiveness. We aimed to compare a sample of Veterans in 2004–2006 to a sample of Veterans in 2017–2023 to see if these policies have improved recovery in the VA system or improved effectiveness in the military. Study 1 included 110 Veterans with MST (19–79 yo; 85% F) from the Northport VA between 2004–2006; Study 2 included 100 Veterans with MST (20–71 yo; 91% F) from the San Diego VA between 2017–2023. Physical and psychological concomitants were assessed with self-report questionnaires. Physical concomitants did not improve between studies. In fact, Study 2 subjects were more likely to report chronic pain (X21,N = 199 = 7.71, p = .005), pelvic pain (X21,N = 202 = 8.45, p = .004), migraines (X21,N = 199 = 10.59, p = .001), and panic attacks (X21,N = 199 = 32.24, p X21,N = 209 = 14.97, p X21,N = 207 = 25.67, p X21,N = 200 = 13.40, p < .001). Most physical and psychological concomitants associated with MST have not improved between the studies suggesting that MST-focused policies implemented between 2006–2017 have not significantly improved recovery. A re-evaluation of these policies is needed.
Karuvannur et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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