1. “What Constitutes Healthy Reintegration? Here is what Military Families Think.”
Meredith (Merry) Richter; Abigail M. Ross, MSW, MPH, & Ellen DeVoe, PhD;
• U.S. military service since the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks has
placed tremendous demands on families who serve. The
unprecedented high operational pace and the length of the wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq have required more frequent deployment
rotations, higher exposure to combat, and heavy reliance on National
Guard and Reservist components. Approximately 43% of Active Duty
and Select Reserve troops are parents and 2 million children have
experienced the deployment of at least one parent (Office of the Deputy
Under Secretary of Defense, 2010). Of these military-connected
children, 42% were younger than five years during the deployment-
separation period(s) (Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense,
2010).
• The effects of Operations Enduring Freedom and Operations Iraqi
Freedom parental deployment on children are increasingly well-
documented (Barker & Berry, 2009; Hosek, 2011).
• Studies indicate that young children in particular exhibit increased
mood and behavior problems during deployment (Barker & Berry,
2009; M. L. Kelley et al., 2001).
• Little is known about how communication strategies can be utilized to
ensure positive interpersonal interactions of recognition,
understanding, and acceptance of change between family members.
Pre-deployment attitudes related to the perception of deployment, as
well as continuation of mutual respect during all phases led to a
healthy reintegration.
Goal:
• Identify strategies, including communication patterns, used by
military parents to communicate about the deployment with
each other during the deployment and reintegration stages of
the cycle.
Aims:
• Discuss issues that all families face and are not just military-
specific.
• Discuss issues that many military families face.
• Discuss the importance of change in a healthy family
reintegration.
This specific study was funded by Boston University’s Undergraduate Research
Opportunities Program during Summer 2014.
This study is funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) to the Boston University
School of Social Work and the Boston Medical Center. The U.S. Army Medical Research
Acquisition Activity, 820 Chandler Street, Fort Detrick MD 21702-5014 is the awarding
and administering acquisition office. The content of this brochure does not necessarily
reflect the position or the policy of the Government, and no official endorsement should
be inferred. Award Number: W81XWH-08-1-0230 Ellen R. DeVoe, PhD, LICSW; PI.
In September 2014, Dr. Ellen DeVoe will be launching an adapted model of the Strong Families program, an 8 session
manualized home-based intervention for military families with young children. Funded by the Department of
Defense, the Strong Families program was recently tested through a randomized clinical trial (N=115). This
intervention, which originally only tested the reintegration stage (after the service member returns from deployment),
demonstrated efficacy on Service Member outcomes of PTSD, depression, anxiety, and parenting stress. The adapted
model will include sessions that occur during the predeployment and deployment stages. I analyzed qualitative data
from the needs assessment phase of the original project. A total of 70 semi-structured qualitative interviews were
conducted (30 with partners, 40 with service members). I examined this data using the sensitizing concept of
deployment communication strategies, as I think that communication between spouses and children both before and
during deployment can influence family functioning at reintegration.
Healthy reintegration consists of interpersonal interactions of recognition, understanding and
acceptance of change between family members characterized by mutual respect.
Recognition of Change: Can include the physical change in the children, as well as the
psychological changes in all members.
– Differences amongst children exist.
• “The younger one didn’t seem to—you’d think I was gone overnight, umm, but the older one, umm,
eight—eight-year-old, whatever, he, umm, it really, really, really bothered him. He was just—he didn’t—
you know, he was afraid. He would check my bed at night to make sure I was there. “
– The service member’s recognition that life went on without you for 10 months is also
vital.
Understanding Change: It is important to understand how and why everyone has changed.
– Your partner needed to run the household without you.
• “There’s al…there is always a little bit of an adjustment time because when you’re gone, umm…your
spouse generally starts to do almost everything on her own there and…so there’s always a little bit of
adjustment”
– Most service members or partners want the other to “get it” but this is not possible
without communication. Before one can understand the changes that went on with their
family members, it is necessary to understand how you have changed.
Acceptance of Change: Once the changes have been recognized and understood, they need to be
accepted by all.
– It is okay if your children do not recognize you; role ambiguity is inevitable. Trust needs
to be rebuilt and your relationship with your children needs to be rebuilt.
• “With the kids, you know, I have to rebuild that trust and my presence.”
Mutual Respect: It is easy for the non-service family member to speak down to the service
member when they return.
– It is important to remember to speak to a spouse as an equal when they return from being
away.
– The partner might need help with something, but this is an invitation for a learning
experience not condescension.
Background
Objectives
References
Acknowledgments
Results
Conclusions
Military families face the same issues non-military families face, but they have the
added stress of deployments.
Similarities between Military and Non-Military Families:
• Not all marriages last; divorce is not only a result of deployments.
• Everyone argues.
• Children make mistakes all of them time.
Similarities among Military Families:
• Role ambiguity during and after deployment is okay.
• It is important to know that your loved ones are thinking about you, so communicate it!
• It takes time to readjust.
• Children have relied on the at-home parent for a while, so it is normal for them not to
come directly to the service member.
Implications for Families:
• “It’s going to have different impacts on different people, based on what they’re life
experiences have been and-and that doesn’t make one better than the other…..So, it’s just
making that person feel like, you know, it’s okay to feel the way that you’re feeling and
whatever you’re feeling, that’s you as a-an individual.”
• One technique that leads to a healthier reintegration and applies to all families is
successful communication. This can be in various forms, but as long as both the service
member and the non-service members keep a continuous, non-confrontational dialogue
going, reintegration will undoubtedly be healthier.
Barker, L., & Berry, K. (2009). Developmental issues impacting military families with young children during single and multiple
deployments. Military Medicine, 174(10), 1033-1040.
Chartrand, M. M., Frank, D. A., White, L. F., & Shope, T. R. (2008). Effect of parents' wartime deployment on the behavior of
young children in military families. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 162(11), 1009-1014. doi: 162/11/1009
[pii]10.1001/archpedi.162.11.1009
Chartrand, M. M., & Siegel, B. (2007). At war in Iraq and Afghanistan: Children in US military families. Ambulatory Pediatrics, 7(1),
1-2. doi: S1530-1567(06)00262-0 [pii]10.1016/j.ambp.2006.11.004
Committee on the assessment of the readjustment needs of military personnel, v., and their families; Board on the Health of Select
Populations; Institute of Medicine. (2013). Returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan: Assessment of readjustment needs of
veterans, service members, and their families. Washington, DC.
Committee on the Initial Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Military Personnel, V., and Their Families; Board on the Health of
Selected Populations; Institute of Medicine. (2010). Returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan: Preliminary assessment of
readjustment needs of veterans, service members, and their families. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.
DeVoe, E. R., & Ross, A. M. (2012). The parenting cycle of deployment. Military Medicine, 177(2), 184-190.
Kelley, M. L., Hock, E., Smith, K. M., Jarvis, M. S., Bonney, J. F., & Gaffney, M. A. (2001). Internalizing and externalizing behavior
of children with enlisted Navy mothers experiencing military-induced separation. Journal of the American Academy of Child &
Adolescent Psychiatry, 40(4), 464-471.
Mental Health Advisory Team (MHAT) V. (2008). Operation Iraqi Freedom 06-08: Iraq and Operation Enduring Freedom 8:
Afghanistan: Office of the Surgeon General United States Army Medical Command.
Methods