Background: Military nurses have a long history of deploying to combat and disaster. Much can be gleaned from their experiences.
Purpose: The purpose of this secondary analysis was to explore military nurses' perceptions of similarities, differences, and resulting issues of military deployments from narratives of three previous studies.
Methods: Secondary analysis of interviews from 65 U.S. military nurses (Air Force, Army, Navy) was conducted. Line-by-line readings and Nvivo8 qualitative software were used.
Discussion: Seven themes emerged. Similarities: We Have Suffered, Support Really Matters, The Chaos Is Real, and I'm a Different Person Now; Differences: We Didn't Know, The Structure Is Missing, and Disasters and War Are Not Equal.
Conclusion: Findings indicated potential areas for improvement in behavioral health, support, and preparedness. Nurses noted they had changed; that they were a different person, and were having difficulty fitting into postdeployment roles. Positive experiences included personal growth and pride.
Keywords: Behavioral health support; Deployments; Disaster; Military nurse; Personal growth; Preparedness; Qualitative research; War.
Published by Elsevier Inc.