The health and wellbeing outcomes of employment and vocational based interventions for veterans: a scoping review

Governments across the world have invested in employment programs for veterans to aid transition from military to civilian life, yet, there is a lack of evidence of their impacts. This paper outlines existing evidence of the health and wellbeing impacts of employment/vocational-based interventions. A scoping review of literature was conducted between October 2022 and August 2023 to identify peer reviewed literature that reported data on health and wellbeing outcomes from studies of employment or vocational-based interventions with veterans. A total of eight articles were included in the final review. Findings showed academic literature surrounding the impact of employment or vocational-based employment programs on veterans’ health and wellbeing is lacking. While studies of employment and vocational-based interventions show some positive impacts on veterans, findings derive from a small number of studies conducted in one country (USA) and, existing studies fail to identify how and why health and wellbeing outcomes occur. These results suggest a requirement for further research to inform evidence-based policy and practice. This includes broadening the geographical scope of studies, the use of qualitative approaches, exploration of individual components of employment and vocational-based program for veterans, and a consideration of pre and post-intervention contexts.