Programs For Military Families Untested But Pushed Anyway

Efforts to Help Families With Military Ties Go Untested
Valley News
By Christie Aschwanden
Special to The Washington Post
February 8, 2015

The IOM analysis found that, too often, programs for military personnel and their families are implemented without evidence that they’re effective, and few programs are monitored to track whether they’re making a real difference, says Kenneth Warner, the University of Michigan professor of public health who led the assessment. 

Veteran Jose Perez, right, with his girlfriend, Jahzeel Osejo, and two of his sons, John, front, and Joshua. After he came home from Iraq wounded, Perez felt emotionally distant and detached from his children. He has enrolled in a program that he says has helped him better connect with them.
(Washington Post - Michael Todd)

The military has never been a particularly family-friendly career. (Thus the old saying that if Uncle Sam had wanted you to have a family, he’d have issued you one.) Yet 44 percent of military personnel have children, and families serve, too.

In recognition of the rigors of service, every branch of the military runs programs to support the psychological health of military families. But a report released in 2013 by the Institute of Medicine concluded that these efforts are falling short in many areas.

Even relatively smooth deployments can strain families, says psychologist David Riggs. The person who comes back from war is not the same person who left, but the family that stays behind changes, too. “It’s not like the service member comes back” and family life just returns to normal, says Riggs, executive director of the Center for Deployment Psychology in Bethesda, Md., which trains behavioral health professionals to work with military personnel and their families.

Studies show that partners and children may develop anxiety, depression and other mental health problems while a family member is deployed, Riggs says, and these problems can persist after their loved one has come home.

The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have invested billions of dollars to expand their capacity to support veterans and their families, but it’s not clear that those dollars are translating into better results, says Terri Tanielian, a senior research analyst at the Rand Corp. in Arlington, Va.

“When people get care, are they getting the right care? Are they getting better, and if they’re not, is the system able to identify that and adjust accordingly?” Those questions remain unanswered, she says.
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