Publication year
2012
Citation Title
Psychological traumas of war: Training school counselors as home-front responders.
Journal Name
Journal of Rural Health
Journal Volume
28
Issue Number
4
Page Numbers
348-355
DOI
10.1111/j.1748-0361.2012.00404.x
Summary
A workshop was held for school counselors to train them on best practices for helping children with a deployed parent. Attendees participated in discussion groups about their own experiences and rated the usefulness of the training for their careers. Participants indicated that the training increased their knowledge of the military lifestyle and that the information they learned could be implemented into their professions.
Key Findings
Level of knowledge about the impact of deployment on military children and families significantly improved from pre- to post-workshop training.
Four themes emerged in the counselors' discussions of their experiences with military youth: parenting and childcare, emotions and behaviors, finances, and barriers to treatment.
Facilitating communication between a deployed parent and their child was a significant way that counselors attempted to support military children.
Implications for Program Leaders
Develop programs that help facilitate communication between a deployed parent and child
Offer classes that teach children evidence-based coping techniques to help them successfully manage emotions related to the deployment
Encourage school counseling services to school-aged children of deployed parents to help them communicate their thoughts and feelings related to the deployment
Implications for Policy Makers
Recommend training programs to educate school officials about how to help military students cope with a parent's deployment
Encourage routine screening to assess for distress among students who have experienced parental deployment
Urge the dissemination of materials that educate military families about resources that support children's adjustment and development at their schools
Methods
Participants attended a two-day workshop about the impact that parental separation due to deployment has on military children and families.
Pre- and post-workshop questionnaires about knowledge of the impact of deployment on military children and families were completed by participants.
After the workshop, participants engaged in open-ended discussion groups where they identified benefits of the workshop.
Participants
Participants were 82 school counselors and the majority were from rural areas in Arkansas (67%).
Most participants were school counselors: the majority were from secondary school (39%), followed by elementary school (32%), college (4%), and intermediate school (1%).
No additional demographic information about participants was provided (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, gender composition, school characteristics).
Limitations
Participants were members of the Arkansas Counseling Association and, as such, may not be representative of school counselors generally.
The pre/post knowledge measure asked participants about perceptions of knowledge (rather than using direct measures to assess actual knowledge).
No follow-up surveys were provided to determine whether counselors' recently obtained knowledge persisted and was useful in their jobs.
Avenues for Future Research
Conduct follow-up assessments with counselors several months after the workshop to determine whether knowledge gains persist and to assess whether this new knowledge is positively impacting counselors' work
Provide questionnaires that directly measure participant knowledge rather than relying on perceived knowledge
Include a larger and more diverse sample of school counselors and from more urban areas
Focus
Multiple Branches
Target Population
Population Focus
Military Branch
Military Component
Abstract
Purpose: With nearly 3 million US troops having deployed for Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn (OEF/OIF/OND) since the conflicts began, an estimated 2 million children have been separated from a parent. This manuscript describes a collaborative project between a state's Veterans Healthcare System, a branch of the American Counseling Association, and a medical university on the OEF/OIF/OND deployment experience. Methods: The project sought to educate school counselors about experiences of OEF/OIF/OND families and learn from their observations as home-front responders in public schools during a 2-day summer workshop. This manuscript describes the framework of the workshop, pre/post evaluation results, and implications for counselors, educators, and supervisors. Findings: School counselors identified childcare and parenting, emotions and behaviors, finances, and barriers to counseling services as challenges for military children and families. Following the workshop, school counselors reported a greater knowledge concerning understanding aspects of outreach for schools and communities in working with veterans and their families. They also reported a better understanding of the impact of war on military families and knowledge of local and state resources for this population. Specifically, attendees felt they could better identify issues and needs of OEF/OIF/OND families with young children, recommend parenting skills to assist these families, and recognize their psychiatric or medical issues. Conclusion: In addressing the mental health disparities of military children experiencing combat-related parental separation, it is important to identify protective environments that could provide prevention interventions for this population. Collaboration between the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and Department of Education could help support military families and a society facing continued conflicts abroad.
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