Lifelong education needs for providing pastoral care for post-traumatic stress in South Dakota National Guard soldiers

Throughout many communities in South Dakota the members of the South Dakota National Guard have been activated to serve in many different parts of the world since 2001. Approximately 20% of these individuals returned to their homes with some degree of PTSD (Hoge, et al., 2004). Pastoral Care has changed since September 11, 2001. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to determine the specific educational needs of local pastors in working with returning National Guard soldiers with signs and symptoms of PTSD and PTS, and what are the best methods or models for meeting those lifelong educational needs.;The collection of data consisted of interviewing 10 local pastors about their experiences with PTSD. The pastors were both male and female, and ranged in age from the early thirties to mid-fifties. All the pastors expressed a desire to be better equipped to help the returning soldiers.;The major issue that faced each of the pastors was the lack of information on current educational methods necessary to feel comfortable in working with the returning soldiers. The pastors felt that they would best be served by small group instruction on the use of any method. The small group time would need to include both instruction from a knowledgeable individual and the opportunity for discussion and sharing of experiences. The assumption behind this study is that a model can be developed to go into communities and work with local pastors to increase their knowledge of PTSD and the resources available in the National Guard system to help the Soldiers.