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Military families face unique stressors, including frequent relocations, separations of service members from families, and reorganizations of family life during reunions. The reintegration following deployment is a particularly disruptive stressor for military families. Returning service members encounter several major tasks in the process of reintegrating. This paper will define each task, examine potential challenges, and provide tips on how families can successfully navigate each task.
Title
The impact of deployment on military families.
Abstract
Introduction
Overview of Topic Deployment and Military Families
A. The problem is the stress experienced during the reintegration phase and how to deal with it.
B. The purpose of this paper is to assist families in improving their ability to cope during the reintegration period following deployment.
II. Research findings on the issues observed in numerous service members returning from deployment (Drummet, Coleman, Cable, 2003) and (Pawlowski, 2005).
A. According to Bowling Sherman (2008), service members encounter four significant tasks during reintegration.
1. Changing the definition of roles, expectations, and the division of labor.
2. Coping with intense emotions
3. When individuals let go of emotional restraint, they can establish closeness in their relationships.
Creating shared meaning is the fourth step in the process.
Becoming a Couple Again: Creating a shared sense of purpose after deployment (Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 2004).
Step 1
During separation, it is important to understand each other's sense of purpose.
Step 2
It is important to acknowledge that many individuals may experience similar concerns upon their return.
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These concerns are often shared or felt indirectly and will require mutual adjustment.
Step 3: Relationship Breakers
Most couples have disputes regarding three main topics: sex, money, and children. Recognizing that these issues can cause division instead of unity is crucial in fostering a renewed sense of shared goals.
Step 4: Relationship Makers
Tips for creating a stronger family and building a shared sense of purpose.
C. The transformation of children during a deployment.
Tips on reconnecting with your children are available in Getting to Know Your Children Again (n.d.) and the study by Johnson et al. (2007).
1. Allowing things to unfold at a relaxed pace, organically.
Arrange a specific time to reconnect with each child.
3. Give children praise for their help during the separation.
Step 4: Gradually reintegrate into family schedules and habits.
Children should be disciplined with both care and love.
According to Ormrod (2008), the application of the behaviorism learning theory is crucial.
Definition of theory:
2. Propose potential uses of the theory for solving the problem
Conclusion
F. Further research is required
Proposal of Research Project suggested by Renshaw, Rodrigues, and Jones in 2008.
H. Rationale for Project
I. Purpose of Project
J. Research Project and K. Research Question.
The text is discussing the method and participants involved in the study, as well as the measures that were taken.
N. Procedures O. Data Collected/Results
P. Discussion (Dekel, Solomon, Bleich, 2005)
Q. References
There has been a rise in the number of war and military action images, especially following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the Middle East crisis.
Our military service members, often referred to as heroes and individuals of honor, make sacrifices to protect the freedom of our country. The families of our nation's military force also face sacrifices and encounter common family issues such as child care, elder care, education, parenting and marital concerns, and career choices (Drummet, Coleman, Cable, 2003). However, military families also confront unique stressors like frequent relocations, long working hours, separations between service members and their families, and adjustments in family dynamics during reunions. Reintegration after a deployment is one of the most disruptive stressors experienced by military families. Separations during deployments lasting six months or more contribute to personnel leaving the military service (Pawlowski, 2005). This paper focuses on the phase of reunion and reintegration following a service member's return from deployment. Contrary to a common misconception, the challenges faced during separation are not instantly overcome when the service member returns home. The reunion can be just as difficult as the separation itself despite being eagerly anticipated with joy.
According to Pawlowski (2005), families must adapt to being reunited, communicate their individual changes, and reconcile their differing expectations for post-deployment family life. Reintegrating after deployment involves several significant tasks, including four major ones.
1) Rethinking and clarifying responsibilities, anticipated outcomes, and allocation of work,
2) Coping with intense emotions,
3) Letting go of emotional constraints and fostering intimacy in relationships.
According to Bowling and Sherman in 2008, promoting effective communication within a group or team is one method of creating shared meaning. This includes ensuring that all members comprehend the purpose, goals, and values of the group, as well as fostering open and honest communication among them. Through the establishment of shared meaning, group members can collaborate more cohesively and efficiently towards mutual objectives.
The following text will outline the tasks, challenges, and advice for families during a deployment. This involves redefining roles, expectations, and dividing labor while the deployment is ongoing. The spouse remaining at home must take on the sole responsibility of managing the household and caring for the children in most cases. They may also have to handle new tasks and make important decisions that they didn't have to before the deployment. Moreover, during this period, the spouse at home might establish fresh family routines and discover innovative methods for handling household chores.
When the service member returns home, couples will face the task of renegotiating the division of labor and deciding things such as who will mow the yard, who will pay the bills, and who will do the dishes. Returning spouses may feel frustrated because they have an intense need to normalize their lives but realize they are unfamiliar with managing the household (Drummet, Coleman, Cable, 2003).
Successful navigation of this task will require flexibility and effective communication from all family members. In addition, returning home from a combat zone can trigger a wide range of intense emotions. Initially, service members may feel happiness and pride as they reconnect with their family and friends (Bowling Sherman, 2008).
However, once the parades and fanfare are over and the initial excitement has faded away, other strong emotions may surface. This is often referred to as the honeymoon effect and is usually caused by unresolved issues that were not addressed before the deployment. These unresolved problems can worsen and become more significant (Bowling Sherman, 2008).
Successfully completing this task will involve learning how to manage overwhelming emotions both individually and in relationships (Bowling Sherman, 2008).
In combat, it is often necessary to express anger as the only acceptable emotion. If a service member allows themselves to feel sadness, worry, fear, or other vulnerable emotions, it can affect the mission and hinder their ability to perform daily tasks in a combat environment. Many service members deliberately suppress their emotions while deployed to better function under the stress of combat. Upon returning home, they must then work on reestablishing an emotional connection with themselves and others. To successfully navigate the reintegration phase, family members need to find a balance between independence and attachment to the support network utilized during the deployment (Drummet, Coleman, Cable, 2003). Failure to maintain this balance could compromise the emotional intimacy within the family's support network relationships.
During a deployment, the couple and their children may undergo distinct stressors and may form a close bond with individuals outside of the family.
Service members and spouses may form close relationships with others in their units or connect with other families during deployment. The reintegration phase brings various adjustments for the family, with each person forming their own interpretations of deployment, reintegration, combat, and war. Developing a shared sense of meaning can reduce stress and promote family cohesion. However, coming together as a couple after deployment requires effort and recognition of personal growth and change during separation. It is crucial to unite as a couple and establish a common purpose for the family's well-being. To assist families during reintegration, the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (USUHS) has created four steps for couples to create a shared sense of purpose (Becoming a Couple Again, 2009).
Home.
Life at home lacks the thrill and excitement of combat duty, resulting in feelings of disappointment and struggles with adaptation.
Relationship.
Most couples find it very challenging to reconcile concern about growing apart, regaining closeness while still pursuing individual growth and viewpoints, addressing issues of fidelity, and having open discussions without further stress or anger.
The three common sources of disagreement among couples are sex, money, and children. Recognizing these issues as divisive rather than unifying is crucial for restoring a mutual sense of purpose and intimacy. However, achieving this can be challenging following periods of stress and separation, which often result in an emotional disconnect.
Partners may also have varying levels of sexual interest, which can lead to feelings of disappointment, friction, or rejection.
Finances.
During the deployment, additional income was received by most service members and families through tax breaks and combat pay. Disagreements may arise during the reintegration phase regarding the way this money was spent, which can lead to a breakdown in trust within the relationship.
Children.
It is crucial to continue developing the positive changes in the children during reintegration. The couple must collaborate to address issues that require attention. The discipline of the children should now be a shared responsibility and seen as an opportunity for constructive growth rather than something to be criticized or neglected.
These are some suggestions for establishing a common purpose and fostering stronger bonds within the family.
Expectations.
During the reintegration phase, it is common to experience fatigue, confusion, and worry, resulting in short tempers. If this happens, it is helpful for the couple to take a break and continue the discussion when they are both more relaxed. It is important to enjoy life by participating in enjoyable activities like watching a movie, having a family picnic, hosting a game night, or going shopping. Effective communication is vital in creating a shared purpose. This involves discussing emotions, processing new information, and reducing stress. Maintaining a positive attitude during reintegration is crucial and can greatly benefit both the couple and their family.
Know when to seek help. The service member and their spouse have experienced significant stress, uncertainty, worry, and loneliness that can impact both their physical and mental well-being. It is crucial for either the spouse or service member to seek assistance if they suspect they may be facing physical or mental health issues. Additionally, the reintegration process can present challenges for the returning service member in dealing with changes in their children. Reconnecting with their children requires effort and patience. Young children may not immediately recognize the service member and may be fearful. Preschoolers may exhibit happiness mixed with anger over the separation, and school-aged children may display similar behavior. Adolescents can be defiant and disappointed if the service member struggles to acknowledge the changes they have undergone during the deployment. The University of Missouri has developed some useful tips (Getting to Know Your Children Again, 2009) including taking a gradual approach and allowing natural progress.
It is crucial for service members to avoid pressuring their children into hugging or playing with them. Giving the children space and allowing them to adjust at their own pace is important. It is recommended to set aside special time to reconnect with each child, such as going on a picnic, visiting the park, or playing a game together. Recognize and commend children for their assistance during the separation. Gradually reintegrate into family routines. Disciplining children should be done with utmost care and affection.
Behaviorism is the most suitable learning theory to address the topic of reintegration. Behaviorism focuses on learning observable behaviors in the environment. The theory states that learning involves behavior change and is influenced by environmental events. During deployment, family members develop their own coping mechanisms. The military member, in particular, is conditioned to respond a certain way due to constant threat in a war zone. According to behaviorists, individuals are conditioned by environmental events.
Due to conditioning, many military personnel may experience heightened sensory reactions to certain sights, sounds, and smells upon returning home. These reactions can result in undesirable conditioned responses, such as nightmares, increased jumpiness/jitters, and flashbacks. Extinction and counter conditioning can help address many of these conditioned responses. Operant Conditioning is another aspect of the Behaviorists model of learning that is relevant during the reintegration phase. It involves the use of positive reinforcement and shaping. When a service member returns home after being deployed, it is crucial for the entire family to recognize that the family dynamics have been redefined, new family systems have been established, and both the service member and the family have undergone inevitable changes. Unfortunately, some of these changes can be detrimental to the family's well-being. By incorporating positive reinforcement and shaping techniques, negative behaviors that developed during the deployment can be transformed into positive behaviors.
In conclusion, providing early intervention and support during the reintegration phase can help reduce stress and negative outcomes for families. If handled appropriately, the reintegration phase can offer families the chance to learn better communication and coping skills, discover new roles, and strengthen their sense of togetherness and shared purpose. Despite reintegration being described as the final stage in most deployment models, ongoing redeployments in current wars means that service members and their families are constantly faced with reintegration issues and preparation. Furthermore, little research has been conducted on the impact of deployment on the marital satisfaction of spouses of Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans. To address this gap, a research study was conducted using previous research by (Renshaw, Rodrigues, Jones, 2008). Multiple studies have indicated that spouses of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) face a higher risk of psychological and marital distress. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms that contribute to this elevated distress in spouses. The aim of this study is to uncover the effects of deployment on marital satisfaction, specifically among spouses of Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans.
The study included 50 male Marines from Combat Logistics Regiment-17 (CLR-17), Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Ca who were deployed to Iraq for 12 months between Dec. 2007 and Dec. 2008, along with their wives. The Marines and their wives completed questionnaires about 3 months after the Marines returned home. The wives' ages ranged from 19 to 51 years, with all but 3 having completed high school, and 97 were Caucasian. The Marines' ages ranged from 19 to 53 years, all having completed high school, and 95 were Caucasian. These characteristics are representative of CLR-17, which consists of 95 male members and 97 Caucasian individuals. On average, the couples in the sample had been married for 9 years and 7 months. The study measured symptoms of PTSD using the PTSD Checklist, a scale with 17 items based on the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th Ed.) (DSM-IV). There are two versions of this scale, one specific to the military (PCL-M completed by the Marines) and one specific to civilians (PCL-C completed by the wives). The wives were instructed to answer event-specific questions regarding their spouses' stressful military experiences.
The text states that each item in the scale represents a specific criterion from the DSM-IV. Each item is answered on a scale from 1 to 5, with a score of 3 or more indicating endorsement of that item as a symptom. This endorsement suggests a possible diagnosis of PTSD within each cluster, namely avoidance and hyper-arousal. Additionally, a score of 44 is suggested as the cutoff for indicating PTSD in civilian populations.
The CES-D is a self-report measure of depressive symptoms completed by both Marines and their wives. It consists of 20 items and scores range from 0 to 60, with higher scores indicating more severe symptoms. A score of 16 is suggested as a cutoff for possible depression. In addition, the Marines completed the Combat Exposure Scale (CES), a Likert-type scale with 7 items that assesses the extent and severity of exposure to traumatic combat experiences. The overall score on the CES is calculated by weighing items based on the seriousness of the events.
Scores on the questionnaires used in this study range from 1 to 41. Scores between 1 and 8 indicate light exposure, 9 to 16 indicate light to moderate exposure, 17 to 24 indicate moderate exposure, 25 to 32 indicate moderate to heavy exposure, and scores between 33 and 41 indicate heavy exposure. The choice of these questionnaires was based on their extensive use in previous research and their strong reliability and validity in terms of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent and discriminate validity.
Written consent was obtained from all participants. The base Chaplains office and the base Judge Advocate General (JAG) allowed the study to be conducted without military oversight to maintain the service member's confidentiality. Chaplain Kevin Smith, who served as the Regimental Chaplain, acted as the main intermediary between the researchers and the Marines. Upon returning from deployment, around 800 Marines in this unit were offered post-deployment workshops aimed at assisting their reintegration into civilian and family life. Married Marines, numbering about 600, were offered workshops that also included their spouses. Over a span of 2 weeks, approximately 3 months after deployment, recruitment for this study took place during the aforementioned workshops attended by 112 couples. All attendees were given the chance to participate in the study. Out of the 112 couples, 50 volunteered (45 of whom had attended the workshops) . Marines and spouses were instructed to complete questionnaires individually, and each participating couple received a payment of $25.
Table 1 displays the mean scores of wives on measures of depression and PTSD symptom severity. In comparison to a similar study in 2007, wives had a mean score on the CES-D that was nearly double that of the norm sample. However, their mean score was lower than that of psychiatric patients in a development sample. Approximately 46.8% of wives met or exceeded the cutoff score of 16, indicating possible clinical depression. On the PCL-C, 8 wives (16%) met the proposed cutoff score of 44 for civilian samples. Additionally, 7 wives (14%) endorsed enough criteria at a moderate level of severity to warrant a diagnosis of PTSD based on their responses. These percentages were similar to those reported in a study on spouses of Holocaust survivors where 10 spouses qualified for full PTSD criteria. On average, wives reported high levels of marital satisfaction, but 18.3% of the sample had scores of 3.5 or lower, suggesting possible marital distress. Previous studies on marital satisfaction in community samples have found distressed marriages ranging from 6.2% to 26% (Renshaw, Rodrigues, Jones, 2008). Therefore, this sample did not demonstrate unusually high levels of marital distress. As expected, wives' self-reported marital satisfaction was correlated with Marines' self-report of marital satisfaction.Discussion Consistent with previous research conducted by Dekel, Solomon, and Bleich in 2005, it was found that the spouses of Marines who had just returned from combat displayed higher levels of depression. The table below shows the means and standard deviations of the measures used in this study. The measures included self-reports from the spouses, perceptions of the Marines by their spouses, and self-reports from the Marines themselves. Table 1: Means and Standards Deviations of Measures Measure Spouses self-report M SD Spouses perceptions of Marine M SD Marines self-report Please note that the HTML tags and their contents have been kept intact in the paraphrased text above.
Note CES Combat Exposure Scale PCL Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (military version for Marines self-reports and spouses perceptions of Marines civilian version for spouses self-reports) CES-D Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression symptoms (46.8) and elevated levels of PTSD symptoms (10) as well. Although more than 18% of the sample indicated possible marital distress, these percentages are consistent with other similar samples and do not indicate unusually high levels of marital distress, despite the reported psychological distress in this sample. The findings from this study suggest the importance of gaining a better understanding of how spouses of combat veterans react. It appears that perceptions of partners' functioning are likely to influence the psychological and marital well-being of various groups, not just service members and their spouses. Therefore, additional research is needed to examine this topic among both military and civilian couples to enhance our understanding of how spouses respond to their partners' mental health challenges.
Challenges of Reintegration for Military Families. (2016, May 22). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-effects-of-deployment-on-military-families-essay
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