Welcome to this week’s edition of CDP News! We like to use this space to review recent happenings in and around the Center for Deployment Psychology, while also looking ahead to upcoming events. This was a short week, due to the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, but we've got lots to cover.
The weekly Research Update contains the latest news, journal articles, useful links from around the web. Some of this week's topics include:
● Communities Serve: A Systematic Review of Need Assessments on U.S. Veteran and Military-Connected Populations.
● Exploring the Role of Depressive Symptoms, Service Members, and Spousal Demographic Characteristics on Military Spousal Employment.
● Differences in the Perception of Educational Benefits between Male and Female Veterans in the United States: A National Study.
● Military Life Stressors, Family Communication and Satisfaction: Associations with Children’s Psychosocial Outcomes.
In September of 2017, soon after my active-duty husband passed his 20-year mark in the military, I wrote a blog looking at current data on the transition from military to civilian life. Now, two years later, he’s currently on terminal leave, and it seemed like a good time to revisit this topic.
The weekly Research Update contains the latest news, journal articles, useful links from around the web. Some of this week's topics include:
● Initial job analysis of military embedded behavioral health services: Tasks and essential competencies.
● When to Change the Treatment Plan: An Analysis of Diminishing Returns in VA Patients undergoing PE and CPT.
● Difficulties With Emotion Regulation in the Contemporary U.S. Armed Forces: Structural Contributors and Potential Solutions.
While there are a variety of challenges during the reintegration process, the most commonly reported ones included determining where to live, career/educational pursuits (i.e., Do I go into the workforce or go back to school? What kind of job do I want now?), and establishing new routines. One thing that most all Service members will say is that the military provides a structure to life that simply isn’t inherently found in a civilian lifestyle. One friend noted, “Going from a set schedule and working outside the home to being a stay-at-home parent and fulltime student has been challenging.” Another noted, “I wasn’t sure if I could do the same job in the same place with the same people year after year.” He indicated that the intrinsic changes associated with military service was one aspect he valued and during the reintegration process he was struggling with fears of stagnancy possible in a traditional civilian career field.