Communities Serve: A Systematic Review of Need Assessments on U.S. Veteran and Military-Connected Populations

• Author: Ryan D. Van Slyke,Nicholas J. Armstrong
• Published date: 01 October 2020
• Date: 01 October 2020
• DOI: 10.1177/0095327X19845030
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Communities Serve:

A Systematic Review

of Need Assessments

on U.S. Veteran and

Military-Connected

Populations

Ryan D. Van Slyke

1,2

and Nicholas J. Armstrong

1,3

Abstract

Military veterans and their families face a multiplicity of challenges once they tran-

sition from service. Even though more American private and public-sector organi-

zations are engaged in studying the needs of veterans and their families through need

assessments, few assessments are comprehensive analyses of the challenges they

face. This systematic review of 61 need assessments from 2007-2018 in the United

States summari zes findings on 18 v eterans issues . While most studi es addressed

issues relating to accessing U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health and benefit

services, mental health, employment, and homelessness, gaps in the literature

emerged, particularly regarding ethnic and sexual minority, rural and elderly vet-

erans, and National Guard/Reserve servicemembers. Large cities and states with

varying degrees of military presence were frequent regions of study, with national

think tanks, nonprofit organizations, and public universities conducting most need

assessments. Future assessments should address persistent inequities in coverage

1

Institute for Veterans and Military Families, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA

2

Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, VA, USA

3

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA

Corresponding Author:

Nicholas J. Armstrong, Institute for Veterans and Military Families, Syracuse University, 150 Crouse

Drive, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA.

Email: narmstro@syr.edu

Armed Forces & Society

2020, Vol. 46(4) 564-594

ªThe Author(s) 2019

Article reuse guidelines:

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X19845030

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among communities and topics of study using mixed-method research and

survey design.

Keywords

veterans, family issues, health care, public policy, social determinants, needs assess-

ment, systematic review

Military veterans and their families in the United States are facing myriad challenges

upon transition from service, from employment to family support and mental health.

Current efforts by federal agencies reach thousands of veterans annually with their

programs, in addition to state veterans’ affairs agencies and local collaborative

support and service delivery. Using theoretical frameworks for organizing and con-

ducting mixed-method need assessments codified by Stufflebeam, McCormick,

Brinkerhoff, and Nelson (1985) and Sleezer, Russ-Eft, and Gupta (2014), think

tanks, universities, state and local governments, and nonprofit organizations across

the United States have conducted need assessment studies for the purposes of under-

standing gaps in service delivery and u nmet needs of community members and

recommending action-oriented steps to address these gaps in delivery. However,

there has been no holistic assessment of these needs of veterans and their families,

which distill common themes and gaps in need within the literature to inform future

scholarship and practice. Our systematic review synthesizes consis tently studied

veterans’ issues, reveals gaps within the literature, and recommends key best prac-

tices for future needs assessments. Our study is organized as follows. We first

provide an overview of the existing literature of veterans ’ needs assessments to

determine the landscape of locations studied, sponsoring organizations, and issues

discussed. We then discuss our methods for a systematic review of the literature

using guidelines from the PRISMA system. In the third section, we report our

findings from the qualitative analysis of commonly studied issues and gaps within

the literature. Finally, we provide recommendations on best practices for future need

assessments, including those pertaining to veterans.

Method

We used a systematic review process to provide a comprehensive overview and

analysis of the current scholarship in the field of veterans studies because of its

explicit, rigorous, and transparent methods (Cooper, Hedges, & Valentine, 2009;

Lipsey & Wilson, 2001; Tranfield, Denver & Smart, 2003). To our knowledge, only

one other literature review has examined veterans’ need assessments (Perkins, Aron-

son, & Olson, 2017). While valuable, this work covers less than half the number of

studies covered herein, and it neither presents nor appears to have been conducted

Van Slyke and Armstrong 565