From the Field to the Home: Exploring the Experience of Military Families

Emily Mulholland

Parental deployment is a unique challenge faced by many military families, and it can significantly influence the family dynamic and wellbeing. Children of these families are especially impacted by this circumstance and are susceptible to developmental and/or psychosocial difficulties. The purpose of this study is to identify ways parents comfort their children to help them cope and adapt to the stresses of the deployment of a mother or father in military service, as well as the reintegration process of the parent returning home. This qualitative study uses a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to better understand the lived experiences of these families and methods used to combat stressors of deployment and post-deployment. Using purposive and snowball sampling, participants completed an online anonymous survey that consisted of demographic and open-ended questions. Using an interpretive framework for data analysis, seven themes emerged from the survey. These themes include the value of family communication, the importance of maintaining routine, the occurrence of behavioral issues in children, the prevalence of emotional distress in children, the use of creative coping strategies, the need for parental self-care, and the resilience of the military families.

• Emily Mulholland is a graduate of Sumter High School and a senior nursing major at Lander. She worked a summer internship at Duke Raleigh Hospital on the Oncology Med-Surg Floor and Cancer Center in 2019. She is actively involved at Lander’s Baptist Collegiate Ministries and is on the Leadership Team. Her future career goal includes becoming a Certified Nurse Midwife.