Deployed women's illness behaviors while managing genitourinary symptoms: An exploratory theoretical synthesis of two qualitative studies.

BACKGROUND: The recent removal of United States military combat exclusion rules resulted in more women serving in forward deployed austere conditions. In the deployed setting, women were diagnosed with genitourinary (GU) conditions five times greater than men.

PURPOSE: Describe deployed military women's GU illness behaviors.

METHOD: Two qualitative descriptive studies interviewing military women and enlisted medics were synthesized using the Illness Behavior Model.

DISCUSSION: Similar and divergent views on the impact of the military culture of the illness behaviors were described by women and medics. Both agreed appropriate attention on managing GU symptoms must continue; however differing strategies were appraised. One agreed option was to offer a health care mentor.

CONCLUSION: The Illness Behavior Model provided an excellent framework for evaluation of military women's illness behaviors exposing areas for comparing and contrasting the perspectives provided. While significant changes have been made, additional strategies will continue to improve the women's deployed health care quality.