Publication year
2017
Citation Title
Military family advocacy in the U.S. Army: Program service outcomes and family participation.
Journal Name
Journal of Child and Family Studies
DOI
10.1007/s10826-017-0864-8
Summary
The U.S. military has implemented many programs to improve family well-being, including the Family Advocacy Program (FAP), which has a presence at all Army bases where families are stationed. This study examined the quality and consistency of the FAP's implementation. Program adherence and delivery quality were strengths of the implementation, while there was a need for improvement in referral variety and Soldier and family engagement in referral programs.
Key Findings
The FAP implementation had excellent program adherence on critical components, including: evaluation of victim and perpetrator by qualified staff (100%), completion of comprehensive family assessments (100%), inter-agency communication (99%), and severity of abuse indicated in case file for safety planning (100%).
Program delivery quality was high: staff efficiently made contact upon receiving a referral, engaged relevant supports and resources for families in the required time period, and focused on victim safety as primary concern. An average of 32 contacts (range = 26-76) were made over the course of FAP involvement.
Families were offered about five referrals on average. Referrals were mostly made to Army Community Services, despite other military family support programs or civilian providers being available and relevant. In addition, 10% of the time commanders were not briefed on cases.
Soldiers engaged in referrals 72-79% of the time, and family members engaged in referrals 33-48% of the time.
Implications for Program Leaders
Regularly disseminate information regarding military programs that prevent or address family violence in various contexts and through various means of communication to increase awareness
Engage military families in focus groups regarding lack of engagement in support programs and in attempts to reduce barriers to engagement (e.g., stigma, fear of career damage)
Offer partner and child abuse prevention programs that utilize motivational interviewing to increase engagement
Implications for Policy Makers
Continue to encourage inter-agency communication regarding cases of partner and child abuse in military families, specifically engaging Service members' command structures to increase service engagement and completion
Encourage implementation of family conflict resolution programs which has been shown to reduce military family violence and violent behavior in men
Engage in deeper and more regular collaboration with community-based service providers and develop a protocol for engaging them in service delivery for military families encountering partner or child abuse
Methods
Data were gathered from Army bases that were selected at random after being stratified into small, medium, and large bases.
Researchers developed a coding scheme which they validated through a pilot study, then visited the selected Army bases to review the case files.
The FAP has four implementation and service dimensions which were assessed: program adherence, quality of program delivery, receipt of referrals and support, and participation in service and support referrals.
Participants
Two hundred and twenty-six case files of families that received services through the FAP were reviewed and coded.
The case files were from 11 Army bases: two large (50%), three medium (35%), and six small (15%).
Seventy-nine (35%) families reported domestic abuse only, 79 (35%) reported child abuse only, and 68 (30%) reported both domestic and child abuse.
No demographic data were provided regarding the participants.
Limitations
The coding protocol was not sufficiently described to be replicated.
Not all treatment attendance data was obtained, and may have been underreported.
In families with multiple child abuse victims, only the oldest child's data were coded. There may have been abuse towards younger children which would have influenced the conclusions of the study.
Avenues for Future Research
Examine rates of participant engagement when provided community-based provider referrals compared with military-based provider referrals
Evaluate the efficacy of military programs in reducing family violence
Compare service outcomes (adherence to FAP protocol) to client outcomes (reduction in family violence)
Focus
Army
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Branch
Military Component
Abstract
Violence in military families remains a vexing problem. Since the advent of the Global War on Terror, there is inconsistent evidence that the prevalence of family violence is increasing, particularly during and after military deployments. However, child neglect appears to increase significantly during military deployments. The military has developed family advocacy programs designed to keep families safe and intervene to reduce the deleterious effects of exposure to family violence. This is one of the first studies to examine the quality with which a family advocacy program is implemented and the degree to which families engage with the program. To conduct this study, the case files of 226 families who came in contact with the Army Family Advocacy Program (FAP) and whose cases were closed in 2013 were reviewed and coded across several implementation and service outcomes. These included involvement of qualified staff, whether or not appropriate victim and offender assessments were completed, degree of inter-agency communication, and appropriateness of referrals, among others. Soldier and family member participation in FAP and other Army-sponsored programs designed to reduce violence was also assessed. Generally speaking, the Army Family Advocacy Program was implemented with high quality, established processes and procedures for handling cases were largely followed, and FAP staff responded rapidly and thoroughly to reported abuse. However, family engagement with Army services and supports was low. Developing robust approaches to engaging families in family programming must be a high priority going forward.
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