Veterans in Care Homes: An International Scoping Review to Inform UK Policy and Practice

Abstract

Context: In contrast to the mental and physical health needs of veterans, veterans’ social care needs remain relatively neglected by policymakers and researchers. Objective: To inform UK veterans policy and practice by drawing together the expectedly limited international research base on veterans in care homes. Method: An international scoping review of peer-reviewed and grey research literature was conducted, informed by Levac et al.’s (2010) six-stage process. Findings: Thirty-three papers were found to meet the inclusion/exclusion criteria. The papers’ contents typically fell into one or more of the following themes: social connection, care preferences and autonomy, and military-related physical and mental health needs. Limitations: Very little (n = 1) UK-situated research was found, with the majority of retrieved papers (n = 24) being US-based, impeding transferability and relevancy of the findings to a UK context. Implications: Veterans’ social care needs were found to be a largely underexplored area of research, especially in the UK. There is a pressing need for UK veterans’ policymakers to redress existing imbalances in the focus of policy and research by raising the status and importance of the social care needs of UK veterans, as has been achieved on the mental and physical health fronts.