ABSTRACT

Women are important contributors in the United States military yet historically struggle for equality and equity. As women’s military service increases, literature has failed to keep up with the changes which affect women service members and veterans, especially civilian life transitions. Through a feminist framework, the current study explored the experiences of four women veterans who transitioned to civilian life utilizing interpretative phenomenological analysis to analyze semi-structured interviews. Connected by gender, seven superordinate themes emerged: family support, mandatory conformity, identity, service, gender inequality, symptoms, and opportunities. The findings indicated that military life and transition negatively impacted these women veterans’ mental, physical, and social well-being. In contribution to the gap in current literature, the authors discuss implications for research, clinicians, society, and the military.

摘要

女性是美国军队中的重要贡献者，但历史上一直在为平等和公平而斗争。随着女性服兵役的增加，文学未能跟上影响女性服役人员和退伍军人的变化，尤其是平民生活的转变。通过女权主义框架，本研究利用解释性现象学分析来分析半结构化访谈，探讨了四名女性退伍军人过渡到平民生活的经历。与性别相关联，出现了七个高级主题：家庭支持、强制服从、身份、服务、性别不平等、症状和机会。调查结果表明，军事生活和过渡对这些女性退伍军人的心理、身体和社会福祉产生了负面影响。