Two Yale researchers who conducted a series of studies on how women veterans use Veteran's Administration (VA) mental health services have received the 1997 Excellence in Women's Health Research Award.
Dr. Carolyn Mazure, director of research for the women's health program and the National Center of Excellence in Women's Health at Yale, presented the award to Robert Rosenheck, clinical professor of psychiatry at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System in West Haven, and Rani A. Hoff, postdoctoral fellow at the Yale Child Study Center.
In their studies, Rosenheck and Hoff discovered that:
* While women represent only a small fraction of those in the VA healthcare system, they use the services at approximately the same rate as men.
* Women veterans were more likely than men to use mental health services in general, but were less likely than men to use VA mental health services.
* Female veterans were less comfortable in the male-dominated VA inpatient environment, but had better relationships with their individual clinicians than men did.
* Women VA patients received a higher quality of care on several measures because they were more careful consumers.
These studies revealing the complex response by women veterans to the VA healthcare system should lead to the development of new programs for the female veteran, notes Mazure.
The women's health program is now accepting nominations for the 1998
National Center of Excellence Research Award. Yale investigators should
submit a one-page letter nominating a Yale clinical or basic science
investigator who has made a recent significant contribution to the field
of women's health. Self-nominations are welcome. No more than two article
reprints should be submitted; curriculum vitae are not required.
Nomination letters should be sent to Dr. Carolyn Mazure at 350 Congress
St., Suite 7H. For further information, call Charleen Bertolini at
737-1953 or send email to charleen.bertolini@yale.edu.
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