Relationship Education for Military Couples: Recommendations for Best Practice.

Military couples have a number of distinctive strengths and challenges that are likely to influence their relationship adjustment. Military couples' strengths include stable employment, financial security, and subsidized health and counseling services. At the same time, military couples often experience long periods of separation and associated difficulties with emotional disconnect, trauma symptoms, and reintegrating the family. This paper describes best practice recommendations for working with military couples, including: addressing the distinctive challenges of the military lifestyle, ensuring program delivery is seen as relevant by military couples, and providing relationship education in formats that enhance the accessibility of programs.

Effect of Multiple Deployments on Military Families: A Cross-Sectional Study of Health and Well-Being of Partners and Children.

This study explored the impact of multiple deployments on the health and well-being of the partners (married or de facto) and children of Australian military personnel who have deployed frequently. Permission to contact military partners was sought from a sample of Australian Defence Force (ADF) members. Partners provided data on deployment history, physical health, mental health, and their children's emotions, and behaviors. Associations between multiple deployments and health and well-being of partners and children were assessed using logistic regression. Data were collected from 1,332 Australian Defence Force partners (response rate 36%) with 1,095 children aged between 4 and 17 years. Almost half (47%) of partners had experienced more than one deployment, mainly to Timor-Leste, Iraq, and Afghanistan. There was little evidence of associations between numbers of deployments and the health of the partner. In contrast, more behavioral problems were reported for children who experienced two or more deployments with odds ratios generally greater than 2 and significant trends with increasing numbers of deployment. Although military families who experience multiple deployments may, by selection, be more resilient than those who have fewer deployments, these results suggest that adverse impacts on the children may accrue with increasing parental absences because of deployment.

Alcohol use in the military: associations with health and wellbeing.

BACKGROUND: This study assessed the extent to which alcohol consumption in a military group differed from the general population, and how alcohol affected the military group's health and social functioning. METHODS: A cross sectional survey of military personnel (n = 5311) collected self-reported data on alcohol use (AUDIT scale) and general health, role limitations because of physical health problems (role physical), and social functioning scores (SF36 subscales). Logistic regression was used to compare drinking behaviours between the military sample and a general population sample, using the categories risky drinkers (>2 units per day), low risk drinkers (≤2 standard drinks per day) and abstainers. Groups in the military sample with the highest levels of alcohol misuse (harmful drinking AUDIT ≥ 16, alcohol dependence AUDIT ≥ 20, and binge drinking) were also identified. Linear regression models were then used to assess the association between alcohol misuse and SF36 scores. RESULTS: There were fewer risky drinkers in the military sample than in the general population sample. There were also fewer abstainers, but more people who drank at a lower risk level (≤2 standard drinks per day), than in a sample of the general population. Harmful drinking and alcohol dependence were most commonly observed in men, younger age groups, non-commissioned officers and lower ranks as well as reserve and ex-serving groups. Alcohol misuse was clearly associated with poorer general health scores, more role limitations because of physical health problems, and lower social functioning. CONCLUSIONS: Although risky drinking was lower in the military group than in the general population, drinking was associated with poorer health, more limitations because of physical health problems, and poorer social functioning in Defence members. These results highlight the potential benefits for Defence forces in reducing alcohol use among members, in both those groups identified at highest risk, and across the military workforce as a whole.

Spouses of military members' experiences and insights: qualitative analysis of responses to an open-ended question in a survey of health and wellbeing.

INTRODUCTION: There are few studies on the experiences of spouses of military members, with most focused on adverse impacts of deployment. Responses to an open-ended question in a survey of spouses' health and wellbeing enabled access to perceptions and insights on a broad range of topics. The objective of this investigation was to examine how respondents used the open-ended question and what they discussed, in aim of informing support service agencies and spouses of military members. METHODS: Thematic analysis was conducted on responses to the open-ended question. Descriptive analysis was performed on the demographics, military member characteristics and self-reported health of respondents and non-respondents to the open-ended question. FINDINGS: Over a quarter (28.5%) of the 1,332 survey participants answered the open-ended question, with respondents having a significantly higher level of education than non-respondents. Respondents expressed negative and positive experiences and insights on military life, provided personal information, commented on the survey, and qualified their responses to closed-ended questions. Topics included 'inadequate support', 'deployment impacts', 'suggestions for supporting agencies', 'appraisal of experiences' and 'coping strategies'. CONCLUSIONS: This investigation uncovered issues of importance to spouses of military members that were not included or identified in a quantitative study. The findings provide a platform from which to explore these issues further, particularly the impact of military life on the non-serving spouse's career. The findings also provide support agencies with evidence to strengthen their services and they give spouses an opportunity to reflect on their own and others' feelings and evaluations of military life.

Traumatic events, other operational stressors and physical and mental health reported by Australian Defence Force personnel following peacekeeping and war-like deployments.

BACKGROUND: The association between stressful events on warlike deployments and subsequent mental health problems has been established. Less is known about the effects of stressful events on peacekeeping deployments. METHODS: Two cross sectional studies of the Australian Defence Force were used to contrast the prevalence of exposures reported by a group deployed on a peacekeeping operation (Bougainville, n = 1704) and those reported by a group deployed on operations which included warlike and non-warlike exposures (East Timor, n = 1333). A principal components analysis was used to identify groupings of non-traumatic exposures on deployment. Multiple regression models were used to assess the association between self-reported objective and subjective exposures, stressors on deployment and subsequent physical and mental health outcomes. RESULTS: The principal components analysis produced four groups of non-traumatic stressors which were consistent between the peacekeeping and more warlike deployments. These were labelled 'separation', 'different culture', 'other people' and 'work frustration'. Higher levels of traumatic and non-traumatic exposures were reported by veterans of East Timor compared to Bougainville. Higher levels of subjective traumatic exposures were associated with increased rates of PTSD in East Timor veterans and more physical and psychological health symptoms in both deployed groups. In Bougainville and East Timor veterans some non-traumatic deployment stressors were also associated with worse health outcomes. CONCLUSION: Strategies to best prepare, identify and treat those exposed to traumatic events and other stressors on deployment should be considered for Defence personnel deployed on both warlike and peacekeeping operations.