%0 Journal Article
%T Broadcasting War Trauma: An Exploratory Netnography of Veterans¡¯ YouTube Vlogs
%A Donna L. Schuman
%A Karen A. Lawrence
%A Natalie Pope
%J Qualitative Health Research
%@ 1552-7557
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1049732318797623
%X This exploratory netnographic study is among the first to investigate military video blogs (milvlogs) posted by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who self-published stories on military-related trauma to YouTube. Studies have shown that self-published milvlogs provide benefits such as education, social support, and self-management of chronic physical and psychological illness. The aim of this study was to explore combat veterans¡¯ milvlogs and to determine themes that emerged across the videos. We transcribed and analyzed content from 17 milvlogs. Our analysis yielded seven themes: motivation, loss, managing symptoms, help-seeking, guilt and shame, suicide, and connecting to other veterans. We concluded that veterans were initially drawn to vlogging to connect to others. Vlogging also served as a medium for combat veterans to tell their stories, position these stories against others¡¯ experiences, and engage in outreach and advocacy. Finally, milvlogs may provide an easily accessible resource for developing preventive and/or mental health treatment/support links
%K posttraumatic stress
%K qualitative
%K vlog
%K service members
%K military
%K veterans
%K netnography
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1049732318797623