1. The Development of a Parenting Program for Military Families
Molly Wolf, LMSW, Rebecca Eliseo-Arras, MSW, Megan Brenner, and Danette Turner
Introduction
Results (cont.)
Re-Integration Back into the Family: a Necessary Rocking of the Boat
The military member ‘protects’ his/her family from the horrors of war.
In the meantime, the spouse who was not deployed has formed routines as a quasi-single parent.
Re-integration necessarily upsets these routines, and participants noted that issues such as child behavioral problems during the cycle of deployment, and domestic violence may present themselves.
Anger Issues
Violence against children where there was not any before deployment.
Workshop Content: Working within a Military Culture Framework
Much more likely that military families would be willing to talk about issues as they related to parenting rather than issues as they related to themselves.
Stigma against using veteran services, because admitting to needing such services would be considered a weakness.
Sample (n=8 Service Providers)
School social worker
Service Providers
Private therapist
Air Force employees
Veteran Healthcare System employee
Attorney working with military families
Sherriff’s Office, working with military families
Veteran Services
Every Person Influences Children, Inc. (EPIC) is developing a program of parenting workshops for military members and their families.
Military families face significant challenges both during deployment and the reintegration process, and this may affect parenting skills and techniques.
Aim of this Study
To ascertain information to inform the program development of parenting workshops for military families.
To examine the types of issues that affect military families, such that content of workshops, delivery of workshops, and facilitation methods could be formed to specifically cater to military families.
Ethnicity of Sample (n=8 Service Providers)
6 Caucasians
1 African-American
1 Latina
Methods
This study used qualitative methods and purposive sampling.
One two-hour focus group with eight Service Providers to Military families (n=8).
Focus Group was moderated by two facilitators.
Questions Asked of Participants
Types of issues they were seeing in their work with military families.
The kinds of issues that military families might be interested in discussing during parenting workshops.
Logistical issues of holding parenting workshops with military families, such as location, time of day, and workshop facilitator qualifications.
Gender of Sample (n=8 Service Providers)
6 Males
2 Females
Discussion
Parenting programs for service members and families must first educate their facilitators about military culture, and then integrate military culture when designing and implementing programs for military families.
Workshops around normalizing the experiences of military families would be beneficial, as would be psycho-educational workshops designed to help military families adjust to their circumstances.
Results
Family Connectedness Before and During Deployment
As the military member gets ready to deploy, they sometimes “put up a wall” and begin to separate themselves emotionally from the family, and this can be very difficult on the spouse and children.