Abstract

Veterans who courageously served in the military are often diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and their spouses are at high risk of suffering in silence from stress and anxiety. Many spouses are also their Veteran’s caregiver which leaves little time for their own self-care needs. Being a Veteran’s 24-hour caregiver can lead to poor physical and mental health, aggravating spouses stress and anxiety levels which is often only treated with medication or goes untreated due to lack of mental health care access and the stigma that comes with it. The literature review explores the research gap of how online faith-based group life coaching can affect the stress and anxiety levels of Veteran spouses through introducing new skills one day at a time. Previous studies showed introducing new healthy behaviors through life coaching helps reduce symptoms of PTSD, stress, and anxiety in Veterans, but no study had examined what affect life coaching has on Veteran spouses’ stress and anxiety levels. This 21-day online intervention explored the question of how faith-based group life coaching affects stress and anxiety levels in spouses. ....................................................................................