Full Description
War-related separations challenge families in many ways. The worry and uncertainty associated with combat deployments provokes anxiety in family members left at home. Lengthy separations may challenge the personal, social, and economic coping resources of families at home. In this war, thanks to medical advances, many service members who previously would have died of their injuries are returning home to live long, although altered lives. As a result, families are facing the additional challenge of assisting service members who have experienced amputation, traumatic brain injury, and psychological wounds. These challenges are faced not only by service members in the active component of the armed forces, but also by service members in the National Guard and Reserves. In response, the Department of Defense has launched unprecedented efforts to support service members and families before, during and after deployment in all locations of the country as well as in remote locations. These support efforts are focused not only on medical care, but also mental health care and logistical support. Research about families and war tends to move forward in fits and starts associated with major conflicts, and there is currently an increasing flow of family research moving into the scientific domain. Military Families and the Aftermath of Deployment focuses heavily on the aftermath of deployment for families. It is the first compilation of such chapters released in relation to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and includes contributions from leading researchers from diverse disciplines and arenas, including universities, the Veterans Administration, and the Department of Defense, as well as international researchers from Canada, and Croatia, among others. This work will be of use to graduate students and researchers in family studies, social work, counseling, military science, psychology and sociology.
Contents
Research and Training about Military Families: Where Are We?- Evolution of a Research Agenda.- I. Relational Functioning.- Bridging the Distance: Illustrations of Real-Time Communication of Support between Partners and Deployed Members of the National Guard.- Relational Turbulence within Military Couples During Reintegration Following Deployment.- Feasibility of Telephone Support Groups for Spouses of Returning Iraq and Afghanistan Service Members.- II. Parenting and Child Outcomes.- General and Specialist Health Care Utilization in Military Children of Army Service Members Who Are Deployed.- Parenting Practices and Emotion Regulation in National Guard and Reserve Families: Early Findings from the After Deployment Adaptive Parenting Tools/ADAPT study.- Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Military Families: Visible But Legally Marginalized.- III. Single Service Members.- Pre-deployment Well-being among Single and Partnered National Guard Soldiers: The Role of their Parents, Social Support, and Stressors.- Towards a Better Understanding of Post-Deployment Reintegration.- Young Veterans and the Transition to Civilian Employment: Does Marital Status Matter?- Recent Developments in the Uneasy Tension Between Family and Career: Competency-Related Perceptions of Women and Mothers.- IV. Family Sequelae of Wounds and Injuries.- The Effects of Wounds of War on Family Functioning in a National Guard Sample: An Exploratory Study.- Resources and Coping Strategies Among Caregivers of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) Veterans with Polytrauma and Traumatic Brain Injury.- Combat-related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Families.- Community-Based Support and Unmet Needs Among Families of Persons with Brain Injuries: A Mixed Methods Study with the Brain Injury Association of America State Affiliates.
