Parental perceptions of social and emotional well-being of young children from Australian military families.
children
emotional well-being
military families
parenting
resources
social well-being
Journal
The Australian journal of rural health
ISSN: 1440-1584
Titre abrégé: Aust J Rural Health
Pays: Australia
ID NLM: 9305903
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
25 Aug 2023
25 Aug 2023
Historique:
revised:
25
07
2023
received:
25
02
2023
accepted:
06
08
2023
medline:
25
8
2023
pubmed:
25
8
2023
entrez:
25
8
2023
Statut:
aheadofprint
Résumé
Many Australian Defence Force (ADF) and Veteran families are affected by the stressors of Defence family life, including frequent and prolonged parental deployments, and frequent relocations. To address a gap in information about Defence and Veteran (hereafter Defence) parents' knowledge, confidence and resources to support their young children's well-being and build their resilience. This study used a mixed methods design to explore Defence parent's perceptions of their young children's (aged 2-8 years) social and emotional well-being and understanding of their children's responses to unique stressors as well as their confidence in providing support. Data from 41 parents were available. Overall, parents reported positive well-being evaluation of their children. However, just over a third of parents also reported that their children rarely cope well on two indicators combined (adapting to new situations and sharing negative emotions with others). Significantly, more than half of the parents (61%) were only partially confident in their ability to assist their children to cope with unique stressors in military families. Qualitative data provided further insights into children's struggle with relocations and parental absence and the challenges parents face in supporting them. Parents reported having limited access to effective age- and culturally appropriate resources to support their young children. In a first-of-its kind study, we found that Australian Defence parents reported their young children were coping on most of the key well-being indicators. However, awareness of currently available supports for children remains a barrier as well as access to contextualised, age- and culturally appropriate resources are lacking. There is a need for access to free, quality, online, research-based Australian resources to support young children from Defence families, especially for those living in regional and rural locations and are less likely to have access to mental health and other specialist supports.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Subventions
Organisme : Ian Potter Foundation
ID : 31110052
Informations de copyright
© 2023 The Authors. Australian Journal of Rural Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of National Rural Health Alliance Ltd.
Références
Janzen B, Karunanayake C, Pahwa P, Dyck R, Rennie D, Lawson J, et al. Exploring diversity in socioeconomic inequalities in health among rural dwelling Canadians: socioeconomic inequalities in health. J Rural Health. 2015;31(2):186-198. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12101
Australian Bureau of Statistics. Service with the Australian Defence force: census. Canberra: ABS; 2021.
Tan C. Australian Defence force families research 2019. Canberra, Australia: Commonwealth of Australia; 2020 [cited 2023 Feb 23]. Available from: https://dfa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2019-survey-report-2.pdf
Shiner B, Gottlieb D, Rice K, Forehand JA, Snitkin M, Watts BV. Evaluating policies to improve access to mental health services in rural areas. J Rural Health. 2022;38(4):805-816. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12674
MacDonell GV, Bhullar N, Thorsteinsson EB. Depression, anxiety, and stress in partners of Australian combat veterans and military personnel: a comparison with Australian population norms. PeerJ. 2016;4(e2373):e2373. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2373
Johnson A, Rogers M. Strengthening and supporting parent-child relationships through digital technology: benefits and challenges. J Family Stud. In Press.
Rogers ML. Young children's understandings and experiences of parental deployment within an Australian Defence Force family. Armidale, Australia: University of New England; 2017. https://doi.org/10.25952/5DB243B085E6C
Siebler P. Military people won't ask for help: experiences of deployment of Australian Defence force personnel, their families and implications for social work [Doctoral thesis]. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. 2009 [cited 2023 February 23].
Siebler P, Goddard C. Parents' perspectives of their children's reactions to an Australian military deployment. Child Aust. 2014;39(1):17-24. https://doi.org/10.1017/cha.2013.38
Briggs EC, Fairbank JA, Tunno AM, Lee RC, Corry NH, Pflieger JC, et al. Military life stressors, family communication and satisfaction: associations with children's psychosocial outcomes. J Child Adolesc Trauma. 2020;13(1):75-87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-019-00259-z
Commonwealth of Australia. Interim report of the Royal Commission into Defence and veteran suicide. Canberra, Australia: Commonwealth of Australia; 2022.
Gribble R, Mahar AL, Keeling M, Sullivan K, McKeown S, Burchill S, et al. Are we family? A scoping review of how military families are defined in mental health and substance use research. J Mil Veteran Fam Health. 2020;6(2):85-119. https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh-2019-0054
McGuire A, Runge C, Cosgrove L, Bredhauer K, Anderson R, Waller M, et al. Timore-Leste family study: summary report. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland; 2012.
Lester P, Aralis H, Sinclair M, Kiff C, Lee K-H, Mustillo S, et al. The impact of deployment on parental, family and child adjustment in military families. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2016;47(6):938-949. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-016-0624-9
Pexton S, Farrants J, Yule W. The impact of fathers' military deployment on child adjustment. The support needs of primary school children and their families separated during active military service: a pilot study. Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2018;23(1):110-124. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104517724494
Piehler TF, Ausherbauer K, Gewirtz A, Gliske K. Improving child peer adjustment in military families through parent training: the mediational role of parental locus of control. J Early Adolesc. 2018;38(9):1322-1343. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431616678990
Bowling UB, Sherman MD. Welcoming them home: supporting service members and their families in navigating the tasks of reintegration. Prof Psychol Res Pr. 2008;39(4):451-458. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7028.39.4.451
Rogers ML. Recommendations to support young children from Australian military families: a report for policy makers, family and social workers and educators. J Manage Policy Practice. 2020;21(2):1-26. https://doi.org/10.33423/jmpp.v21i2.2928
Van Hooff M, Lawrence-Wood E, Hodson S, Sadler N, Benassi H, Hansen C, et al. Mental health prevalence, mental health and wellbeing transition study. Brisbane: Department of Defence and the Department of Veterans Affairs; 2018.
Jamieson N, Usher K, Maple M, Ratnarajah D. Invisible wounds and suicide: moral injury and veteran mental health. Int J Ment Health Nurs. 2020;29(2):105-109. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12704
Van der Kolk BA. The body keeps the score: mind, brain and body in the transformation of trauma. Harlow, England: Penguin Books; 2015.
Coley RL, Kull M. Cumulative, timing-specific, and interactive models of residential mobility and children's cognitive and psychosocial skills. Child Dev. 2016;87(4):1204-1220.
Frederick J, Siebler P. Military children: unique risks for mental health and wellbeing and implications for school-based social work support. Smith College Stud Soc Work. 2022;92(4):219-239.
Australian Government Department of Defence. Defence census 2019. Canberra, Australia: Commonwealth of Australia; 2020 [cited 2023 Feb 23]. Available from: https://www.Defence.gov.au/about/information-disclosures/census
Siebler P. ‘Down under’: support to military families from an Australian perspective. In: Moelker R, Andres M, Bowen G, Manigart P, editors. Military families and war in the 21st century: comparative perspectives. London, UK: Routledge; 2015.
Rogers-Baber M. Protective factors in families: themes from a socioecological study of Australian Defence force families experiencing parental deployment. SAGE Open. 2017;7(2):215824401770671. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017706711
Johnson A. Inside and outside: an investigation of social media use by Australian Defence force partners [Thesis]. CQUniversity. 2018 [cited 2023 Feb 23]. Available from: https://hdl.handle.net/10018/1256704
Blount RL, Simons LE, Devine KA, Jaaniste T, Cohen LL, Chambers CT, et al. Evidence-based assessment of coping and stress in pediatric psychology. J Pediatr Psychol. 2008;33(9):1021-1045.
Singer E, Couper MP. Some methodological uses of responses to open questions and other verbatim comments in quantitative surveys. Methods, Data, Analyses. 2017;11(2):115-134.
Braun V, Clarke V. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qual Res Psychol. 2006;3(2):77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Braun V, Clarke V. Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qual Res Sport Exerc Health. 2019;11(4):589-597. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676x.2019.1628806
Nolan M, Misca G. A review of coping strategies, parenting programmes and psychological therapies available to military parents with children under 5. Int J Birth Parent Educ. 2018;5(4):10-14.
Faber AJ, Willerton E, Clymer SR, MacDermid SM, Weiss HM. Ambiguous absence, ambiguous presence: a qualitative study of military reserve families in wartime. J Fam Psychol. 2008;22(2):222-230. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.22.2.222
Knobloch LK, Theiss JA. Experiences of U.S. military couples during the post-deployment transition: applying the relational turbulence model. J Soc Pers Relat. 2012;29(4):423-450. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407511431186
Russo TJ, Fallon MA. Coping with stress: supporting the needs of military families and their children. Early Child Educ J. 2015;43(5):407-416. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-014-0665-2
Rogers M, Bird J. Children's agency: developing a digital app to voice family narratives. J Mil Veteran Fam Health. 2020;6(2):129-137. https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh-2019-0022
Rogers M, Bible V, Johnson A, Bird J, Harrington I, Baker P. International programs and resources to support children from military families: a review. Int Electron J Elem Educ. 2022;14(2):119-133. https://doi.org/10.26822/iejee.2022.233
Cramm H, Tam-Seto L, Norris D, Eichler M, Smith-Evans K. The impact of parental operational stress injury on child mental health and well-being: a scoping review. Mil Behav Health. 2016;4(4):334-344.
Hess DC, Skomorovsky A. Children from military families: looking through a transnational lens. J Mil Veteran Fam Health. 2019;5(S2):136-143. https://doi.org/10.3138/jmvfh.2019-0013
Edwards B, Baxter J. The tyrannies of distance and disadvantage: children's development in regional and disadvantaged areas of Australia (Research Report No. 25). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies; 2013.
Pincombe BM, Pincombe AH. Scoping a flexible deployment framework using adversarial scenario analysis. Int J Int Def Support Syst. 2010;3(3/4):225-262.