Publication year
2013
Citation Title
Easing reintegration: Telephone support groups for spouses of returning Iraq and Afghanistan service members.
Journal Name
Health Communications
Journal Volume
28
Issue Number
8
Page Numbers
767-777
DOI
10.1080/10410236.2013.800439
Summary
Female partners of OEF/OIF Service members participated in a year-long study focused on education, skill-building, and support for Service members. At baseline, six, and twelve months participants were assessed to measure changes in mental health, marriage quality, family coping and communication. Partner depression and anxiety significantly decreased and perceived social support increased during the course of the study.
Key Findings
Half of the partners attended at least six monthly support group calls, 26% attended three or fewer, and 22% attended nine or more sessions; most partners endorsed wanting more frequent sessions.
Partners reported significant improvements in depression, anxiety, and social support over the course of the group; however, no differences emerged in marriage quality, family coping, or family communication.
Partners struggling with a Service member’s illness or injury were more burdened and they reported greater depression and anxiety and less social support and marriage quality compared to partners who did not have a Service member with an illness or injury.
Although the partners caring for injured or ill Service members improved over the course of the study, they did not reach the level of functioning of the non-caregiving partners.
Implications for Program Leaders
Consider offering telephone support groups to partners of returning Service members as a means of increasing social support and minimizing mental health issues
Provide education to partners of recently returned Service members about warning signs that suggest increased risks for their own physical and mental health problems
Offer workshops during reintegration to help families and Service members adjust to the Service member’s return, especially when the deployment has included combat exposure
Implications for Policy Makers
Continue to support for the implementation and evaluation of the spouse telephone support program
Continue the development of adjunctive support programs for military spouses to mitigate the challenges associated with the reintegration period
Promote reintegration programs that include attention to assisting Service members’ family in adjusting to the Service member’s return
Methods
Co-habitating partners of previously deployed Service members were recruited via a study website, flyers, referrals, and the Wounded Warrior Project; Service members gave consent for their partners to participate.
Groups of five to ten partners selected their own 60-minute weekly meeting time with a master’s level counselor. Each group met 12 times over the course of a year.
Each group spent time checking in and reviewing strategies from the previous call, discussing new didactic information, and practicing and discussing ways of implementing strategies.
All data collection took place over the phone at baseline, six, and twelve months; demographics and measures of depression, anxiety, quality of marriage, social support, family coping, and family communication were collected.
Participants
Eighty-six female partners of Service members were enrolled in 14 different telephone support groups.
Participants' average age was 37.4 years (SD = 9) and most of the sample was either White (85%), Black (11%), or Latino (11%).
Couples' average length of marriage was 10.4 years (SD = 8.2) and the average number of children was 1.5 (SD = 1.2). About half (51%) of the participants were employed.
Almost half of the Service members were National Guard or Reserve (48%) and most (78%) were Army. The average number of deployments was 2.6 (SD = 2.8) and 64% were injured during deployment.
Limitations
There was no control group and therefore it is unclear if the effects are due to the intervention and not to time or other factors.
The sample size was small which limits the generalizability of these results.
Some of the participants recruited through the Wounded Warrior Project knew each other, which may have biased the results.
Avenues for Future Research
Utilize a randomized trial of this intervention to help establish whether effects are due to the intervention or other factors
Examine which parts of the intervention have the largest impact and seek to develop and support those aspects
Develop longitudinal studies to assess how couples adapt and support their partners over an extended period of time
Focus
Multiple Branches
Population Focus
Military Branch
Military Component
Abstract
Spouses of returning Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom, OIF) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom, OEF) military service members report increased depression and anxiety post deployment as they work to reintegrate the family and service member. Reconnecting the family, renegotiating roles that have shifted, reestablishing communication patterns, and dealing with mental health concerns are all tasks that spouses must undertake as part of reintegration. We tested telephone support groups focusing on helping spouses with these basic reintegration tasks. Year-long telephone support groups focused on education, skills building (communication skills, problem solving training, cognitive behavioral techniques, stress management), and support. Spouse depression and anxiety were decreased and perceived social support was increased during the course of the study. In subgroup analyses, spouses with husbands whose injuries caused care difficulties had a positive response to the intervention. However, they were more likely to be depressed, be anxious, and have less social support compared to participants who had husbands who had no injury or whose injury did not cause care difficulty. Study findings suggest that this well-established, high-access intervention can help improve quality of life for military spouses who are struggling with reintegration of the service member and family.
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