Publication year
2015
Citation Title
FOCUS for early childhood: A virtual home visiting program for military families with young children.
Journal Name
Contemporary Family Therapy
Journal Volume
37
Issue Number
3
Page Numbers
199-208
DOI
doi:10.1007/s10591-015-9327-9
Summary
Researchers examined the effectiveness of the Families OverComing Under Stress for Early Childhood (FOCUS-EC) program for military/civilian parents and their children’s mental health. Each family completed six virtual home visit sessions, and their mental health status was assessed. The pilot data showed that FOCUS-EC was helpful and feasible for military families with young children.
Key Findings
Preliminary results from the pilot study showed a decrease in child psychopathology symptoms, and an increase in child prosocial behaviors.
Both military and civilian parents reported enhancement in their families' functioning and improvements in their mental health status, including declines in depression and anxiety symptoms.
Results suggest virtual home visiting is useful and feasible for military families with young children.
Implications for Program Leaders
Provide more family-centered mental health and parenting guidance to military families so that more families could benefit from the services
Offer outreach services to military families; such outreach could note the availability of potentially useful services and resources
Provide concrete information on normative versus delayed child development and useful parenting skills
Implications for Policy Makers
Encourage the virtual home visiting model for mental health interventions so that the services would be more convenient and feasible for military families
Continue dedicating resources to help military/civilian parents receive necessary education on child development and parenting skills
Encourage awareness campaigns regarding the importance of family-centered preventive intervention
Methods
The FOCUS-EC program was adapted from the broader FOCUS program by keeping the core elements.
Each family completed six virtual home visiting sessions online, and received education on child development, parenting strategies, and military family resilience in the sessions.
The real-time assessment evaluated parental psychological health, child behavioral symptoms, and general family functioning.
Participants
The pilot study included 637 military families with children aged 3-5 years old.
Participants' age, gender, race, and military information were not specified in the article.
Limitations
The study was only a pilot study, therefore a better controlled study is needed.
Families were only assessed at the beginning and the end of the intervention; more assessments are needed to examine the effectiveness of the FOCUS-EC program over time.
Information about parental characteristics (e.g., marital status, deployment history) were not available, so some confounding factors were not controlled that may impact the results.
Avenues for Future Research
Future research could use randomized controlled trials to draw more firm conclusions
Additional research could collect more comprehensive data about the parents, such as their marital and socioeconomic status and history of deployment
Future research could also compare the effectiveness of telehealth and face-to-face interventions.
Focus
Multiple Branches
Target Population
Population Focus
Abstract
The risk for mental health problems and relational difficulties in military service members, spouses, and children is well-established. Yet, few services are available for families, particularly during the formative preschool years, when healthy parent–child relationships are crucial to the attainment of major socio-emotional milestones that form the foundation for later development. This paper describes the adaptation of a previously established military and trauma-informed preventive intervention, Families OverComing Under Stress (FOCUS) for use with families with a preschool-aged child (FOCUS for Early Childhood; FOCUS-EC). Grounded in theory and research on family resilience, FOCUS-EC aims to support parents as leaders of the family by providing developmental guidance and psychoeducation on deployment and reintegration, facilitate the construction of a family narrative, and enhance parenting strategies and the parent–child relationship. Furthermore, FOCUS-EC was adapted for use in a telehealth platform, enabling clinicians to reach military and veteran families in their homes, which is particularly useful for high-risk civilian-dwelling military families (including Reserve and National Guard). Pilot work and ongoing data collection as part of a randomized control trial suggest that FOCUS-EC is acceptable and feasible for military and veteran families with preschoolers.
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