Post-incarcerated veterans' perspectives on health and care during reentry: An interest-holder engaged qualitative study

Veterans returning from incarceration face housing insecurity, employment barriers, stigma, and complex health needs. How veterans interpret these challenges and what sustains continued health engagement under these conditions has received less attention. This interest-holder engaged qualitative study draws on in-depth interviews with 54 post-incarcerated veterans to examine how veterans navigate encounters with institutions, peers, and themselves during early reentry. Four dimensions of health engagement emerged through which veterans' ongoing negotiation between military and carceral identity operated: whether veterans saw care as worthwhile, whether they advocated for clinical care through earned standing, whether service-connected trauma shaped their sense of deserving mental health care, and whether incarceration stigma and veteran belonging shaped trust with VA providers. These dimensions shaped engagement with substance use recovery, pain management, oral health, mental health treatment, and clinical participation. When encounters communicated recognition and patience, engagement was sustained. When encounters communicated indifference, the space for continued pursuit narrowed and the effort required to persist increased. The interpretive space between formal eligibility and continued pursuit of care is a site where health inequity is produced and contested. These findings carry implications for encounter design, peer support programming, and flexibility in how progress is defined in reentry services.