• Kendra Jorgensen-Wagers, Vanessa Young, Dawn Collins, Bianca Chavez, Dayna Lenski, and Bilal Khokhar.
• Traumatic Brain Injury Clinic, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation US Military Installation Germany APO, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, AE 09180, USA.
• Mil Med. 2021 Jan 25; 186 (Suppl 1): 546-551.

IntroductionDespite the recent Department of Defense emphasis on traumatic brain injury (TBI) education and improvements in treatment, social, and attitudinal beliefs instilled in the military community hinder seeking medical assistance at the time of injury. This survey research presents injury reporting and care seeking behavioral patterns of service members (SMs) stationed in the Landstuhl catchment area in the context of TBI. This descriptive study investigated whether sociocultural factors influence health decision-making among SMs stationed abroad and how these compare to the SMs stationed in Fort Bliss and Fort Hood.Materials And MethodsA total of 969 of U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy SMs completed a voluntary and anonymous 2- to 5-minute paper survey during the month of March 2019. As a result of illegibility and incompleteness, 15 survey responses were removed from the total sample.ResultsData analyses show three main findings about SMs in the Landstuhl catchment area: (a) older population (25-34, ≥48%; 18-24, 26.1%; +35, 25.4%) when compared to Fort Hood and Fort Bliss (≥48%; 18-24); (b) more years in service (7-13 years; 30.2%) versus 6 years or less in both Fort Hood and Fort Bliss (≥69%); (c) 54.8% of participants did not think TBI requires care versus 63.5% in both Fort Bliss and Fort Hood.ConclusionResults suggest that TBI beliefs and influences are constant variables hindering health decision-making choices in the military population. Beliefs about thinking that the injury does not require care, fear to jeopardize the career, and knowledge about TBI and treatments vary among the respondents and all these components influence treatment-seeking behaviors. The findings provide a preliminary framework to further investigate the role of culture in reporting and seeking treatment behaviors among SMs.© The Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2021. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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