Family caregivers of service members in United States Department of Defense health care report impairment in longitudinal health outcomes.

Abstract

Objective: To examine elevated symptoms on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measures over 2 years in caregivers of service members with traumatic brain injury (TBI). To compare outcomes to caregivers of veterans.

Method: Caregivers (N = 315) were classified into two groups: (a) service member caregiver group (n = 55) and (b) veteran caregiver group (n = 260). Caregivers completed 17 HRQOL measures at a baseline evaluation and follow-up evaluation 24 months later.

Results: In the service member caregiver group, the highest frequency of clinically elevated T-scores (≥ 60 T) at baseline and follow-up were found on physical and psychological HRQOL measures (16.4%-30.9%). A higher proportion of the veteran caregiver group had clinically elevated scores on nine measures at baseline and seven measures at follow-up. Examining the number of clinically elevated scores simultaneously across all 17 measures, the service member caregiver group had multiple elevated scores (e.g., 4 or more: baseline = 25.5%, follow-up = 27.3%). A higher proportion of the veteran caregiver group had multiple clinically elevated scores for 13 comparisons at baseline (h = .35-.82), but reduced to eight comparisons at follow-up (h = .36-.63). In the service member caregiver group, the proportion of caregivers with clinically elevated scores at baseline and follow-up was equally dispersed across persistent and newly developed symptoms, but higher for persistent symptoms compared to developed symptoms in the veteran caregiver group.

Conclusions: Many caregivers of service members reported clinically elevated scores across HRQOL domains and the prevalence increased over 2 years. More services for caregivers in the Department of Defense may be helpful in reducing the trajectory of newly developed symptoms long term. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).