“Military deployment and reintegration challenges permeate the lives and relationships of Veterans, their spouses, and their families. Among these challenges, 23% of post-9/11 Veterans have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Psychiatric service dogs have been found to help clinically alleviate PTSD symptoms when used as a complementary intervention.”
military families
Building community capacity to care for military and veteran families: The Star Behavioral Health Providers Program (2021)
“Service members, veterans, and their families frequently have difficulties finding trained behavioral health providers who have knowledge of military culture and issues specific to the military population. This paper documents the design, implementation, effectiveness, and proximal outcomes of the Star Behavioral Health Providers training program (SBHP).”
Youth’s sibling relationships across the course of a parent’s military deployment: Trajectories and implications (2020)
parents’ perceptions of youth’s sibling relationships across the course of a parent’s military deployment. Participants included 109 families with at least two siblings (older sibling and younger siblings age: M = 10.85, SD = 3.92 and M = 7.89, SD = 3.58, respectively) and one parent serving in the National Guard. Data were collected via in-home interviews, at six time points across the deployment cycle.”
Ultra-rapid development and deployment of a family resilience program during the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons learned from Families Tackling Tough Times Together (2020)
“The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic brought uncertainty, anxiety, and stress into households; however, it also created an opportunity as many families, sequestered at home, found themselves spending much more time together. To support families and improve their ability to cope, recover, and build resilience amid the pandemic, Purdue University’s College of Health and Human Sciences (HHS) launched Families Tackling Tough Times Together (FT), a strength-based multi-week online program informed by scientific evidence about family resilience.”
“A Part of Our Family”? Effects of Psychiatric Service Dogs on Quality of Life and Relationship Functioning in Military-Connected Couples (2020)
“Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can have corrosive impacts on family relationships and individual functioning. Emerging evidence has shown that psychiatric service dogs may be an effective complementary treatment for military veterans with PTSD, benefiting veterans’ mental and social health.”
Re-specifying adolescent non-normative role behavior experiences with military deployment (2020)
“The ideal that youth carry out roles and responsibilities in their families appears age old. There are some family socio-cultural contexts that are said to destabilize the patterns of interactions that govern a family system, engendering an inappropriate overlap in sub-systems creating opportunities for youth to perform caregiving activities traditionally meant for other members of the family unit (Minuchin, 1974).”
Examining multiple rhythms of military and veteran family life (2018)
“This review considers existing literature about military and veteran families’ deployment-related experiences in relation to three separate, yet related, temporal rhythms. First, we consider military family functioning within a short-term rhythm focused on dynamic family interactions (e.g., communicative exchanges) that occur daily.”
Family stressors and resources: Relationships with depressive symptoms in military couples during pre-deployment (2017)
This study uses family stress theory to examine risk and protective factors associated with family members’ adaptation during times of stressful transition. Using an online survey, we gathered data from 151 U.S. Army National Guard members and their spouses preparing for a scheduled deployment.
Total force fitness: The military family fitness model (2017)
This article describes the Military Family Fitness Model (MFFM), a comprehensive model aimed at enhancing family fitness and resilience across the life span. The purpose of this article is to (1) expand the military’s Total Force Fitness (TFF) intent as it relates to families and (2) offer a family fitness model. This article will summarize relevant evidence, provide supportive theory, describe the model, and proffer metrics that support the dimensions of this model.
Help seeking by parents in military families on behalf of their young children (2015)
MFRI contributing authors studied military family help-seeking activities with regard to children’s problems. Specifically, they examined emotional and behavioral problems in children younger than 10 years old. In general, the study found parents knew about these problems.