Military Specific Risk or Protective Factors for Military Family Health Outcomes: Developing the Model

Abstract

Povzetek Vojaški poklic, ki po definiciji zahteva opravljanje nalog v imenu države, ni primerljiv z veliko drugimi poklici. Položaj vojaškega poklica v družbi je določen tudi z odnosom, ki ga vojska izkazuje vojaškim družinam. Temu ob bok postavimo dejstvo, da sta tako vojska kot tudi družina pohlepni instituciji, ki pričakujeta predanost. Usklajevanje med obema za posameznika pomeni izziv, ki lahko vodi v disfunkcije oziroma zdravstvene težave. Dejavniki tveganja ali zaščite se pojavljajo na različnih socialno-ekoloških ravneh. V članku je prvič predstavljen teoretični model, ki ga je razvila avtorica. V modelu so opredeljeni vojaško specifični dejavniki tveganja IN zaščite in kazalniki zdravja v vojaških družinah. Dejavniki tveganja so med drugim: dolgotrajne odsotnosti, bojne izkušnje, stres idr. Dejavniki zaščite pa so: dobra socialna mreža, podpora razširjene družine, sposobnost uspešnega usklajevanja med delom in družino idr. Ključne besede: vojaška družina, vojska, kazalniki zdravja, dejavniki tveganja in zaščite. Abstract Being a military professional and performing the job in the name of one’s country is hardly comparable to other occupations. The military and the family, as greedy institutions, put high demands on their members so it can be difficult to balance between them, which can lead to dysfunctions – negative health outcomes. Every person needs to address various demands during the course of their lives, and the risk or protective factors occur at various socio-ecological levels. This article explains a theoretical model of military specific risk and protective factors which affect military family health outcomes, developed by the author of this article. As currently identified, the most influential military specific factors are: deployments, service member’s gender, combat experience, social network/extended family support, effective work/family balance, and stress resilience-coping. Key words military family, military, health outcomes, risk and protective factors

Socioecological Model of a Military Family’s Health and Well-Being: Inside a Slovenian Military Family

“…The most surprising finding after examining several regression models is the inability to detect the impact and strength of deployment on the observed health outcomes, which is even more surprising when we analyze the research data holistically. When asked directly in interviews, both the servicemembers and their nonmilitary spouses recognized the negative impact held by deployments on children of different ages (see Vuga Beršnak, 2021b), as did adult children from military families when thinking about their youth. 9 This confirms the findings of various authors mentioned above with respect to a deployment's negative impact on children.…”

“…Although every family encounters various risk factors for their health, the demands of the military add to the general risks that civilian families face in their day-to-day lives. Previous findings concerning Slovenian society and the military (Vuga Beršnak, 2021b;Vuga Beršnak, Lobe & Foran, et al, 2020) show that deployments and a long daily work commute are two factors specific to the military organization and play out differently than in a civilian environment. Deployment is typically known for negatively affecting the child (e.g., Drummet et al, 2003;Skomorovsky & Bullock, 2017;Tomforde, 2005;Watanabe & Jensen, 2000), the child's well-being (Skomorovsky, 2018), and disturbs the relationship between the child and the military parent.…”

“…Still, the military organization is very selective and holds high expectations in terms of the health of its servicemembers. It has procedures in place for recognizing alcohol misuse and servicemembers are periodically tested (Vuga Beršnak, 2020). In addition, Slovenia has adopted a "non-combat policy" for international operations and missions, resulting in zero casualties thus far (Vuga Beršnak, 2021a).…”

“… 4. The theoretical background to the model and the justification for the selected health outcomes are explained in an article written by Vuga Beršnak (2020). …”