| Women have increasingly assumed more diverse roles in today's military, for example, the service roles aboard a deployed U.S. Navy combat ship. The purpose of this study was to devise health policy recommendations that promoted operational readiness by studying the health needs of 192 women and 190 male cohorts deployed aboard a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. Based on assessed health needs, a nursing health policy of preventive interventions and nursing roles was projected.; As a secondary descriptive analysis of the Women Aboard Navy Ships (WANS) study that was conducted by Naval Health Research Center (NHRC), WANS survey data and sick call records were analyzed. The selection of 192 female subjects and 190 male cohorts reflected a convenience sample of the original WANS subjects from one specific deployed aircraft carrier ship. Subjects were matched by such characteristics as age, rank, race, job, and years in the Navy. Data analysis was guided by Neuman Systems Model. Statistical analysis included descriptive and relational statistics.; Findings reflected many areas of similarity between the female and male subjects. Women did, however, have higher rates of headaches, had high reported rates of abnormal Pap smears, and expressed concerns about the turnaround time for subjects to receive results of mammograms and Pap smears. Both women and men wanted to be treated by health professionals of the same sex, and "traveler's diarrhea" appeared to affect many of the subjects during deployment, necessitating light duty or no duty for a period of time. Survey responses also reflected ways to improve aspects of sick call for both women and men. Issues of potential and actual exposures to occupational hazards, fit and availability of protective gear, lifestyle aboard ship, and sources of stress were also assessed. Based on the types of health needs noted, Neuman's model was used to examine if many of the needs were within the domain of nursing and amenable to primary prevention as a nursing intervention. After this was found to be the case, a potential strategy for Navy Nursing to improve the overall health and well-being of a deployed ship's crew was proposed using the Deming based Total Quality Leadership (TQL) principles and Surface Warfare Officer certification as implementation models. |
