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Introduction: Transitioning to civilian life after military service can be challenging for both Veterans and their families. Accessible mental health services are crucial during this period to provide support. The objective of this review was to conduct a rapid review to capture the barriers and identify facilitators that influence access to mental health services for Veterans and their families during the post-service transition period. Methods: This review was conducted using the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions as a methodological framework and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses - Rapid Review (PRISMA-RR). Results: A total of 60 articles and 67 independent samples were included in the final data analyses. Across the included articles, this review identified 23 barriers and 14 facilitator themes. Issues navigating the mental health care system was identified as the main challenge among Veterans and their families, and those who received support navigating the system identified this as a significant facilitator. Applying the Theoretical Domains Framework, most of the identified barriers and facilitators were categorized into environmental context and resources domain. Discussion: The heterogeneity in Veterans' and Veteran families' experiences with mental health care-seeking may suggest that access to mental health care for Veterans and Veteran families cannot be solved by addressing one type of barrier alone. Instead, coordinated efforts to address prioritized systemic, logistical, social, and inter-/intrapersonal obstacles are essential for improving access and optimizing mental health care outcomes. These insights underscore the complexity of considerations for Veterans and families accessing mental health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal-assisted intervention (AAI) has been used as a means of stress relief in clinical and general settings; however, animals are not always allowed in certain spaces. Adapting AAI to video or virtual mediums could improve accessibility and is temporally relevant given the recent shift to online interventions. The current study explored: (1) whether an active video (dog or nature) watched before a stressor would improve wellbeing more than tranquil videos; (2) whether exposure to a dog video improves wellbeing more than a nature video; and (3) whether exposure to either a dog or nature video improves outcomes more than exposure to a control video. One hundred and seven undergraduates were randomly assigned to watch one of five videos (active dog, tranquil dog, active nature, tranquil nature, and control) for 3 minutes and then complete a 3-minute stress task. Subjective (anxiety, stress, happiness, relaxation, positive affect, and negative affect) and physiological (blood pressure and heart rate) outcomes were collected at baseline, video, stressor, and recovery time points. Results showed that the activity level of the dog in the video did not influence outcomes. However, relative to the control group, the dog-video condition showed decreases in stress from baseline to video and a smaller decrease in stress from stressor to recovery. Additionally, relative to the nature-video condition, the dog-video condition showed a slightly higher increase in happiness scores from baseline to video. Lastly, relative to the control group, the nature-video condition showed increased relaxation scores from baseline to video and a larger decrease in relaxation scores from video to stressor. This research may inform the development of alternate modes of AAIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]