| The continuing effort of the U.S. military to confront terrorism far from the shores of America contributes to an ongoing struggle among more than two million of America's families categorized as a military family. Current research about military families reveals that long-term deployments of soldiers to a war zone is a leading cause of an increasing level of stress within the military family (Angrist & Johnson, 2000; Hoshmand & Hoshmand, 2007; Kudler, 2007). This study presents a qualitative phenomenological approach to understanding how U.S. Army military families with school age children cope with the deployment of a parent to a war zone. Twenty-five study participants with school age children related lived experiences about coping with family and school issues during the stressful situation of a personal or spousal deployment to a war zone. Data analysis, using a computerized qualitative data analysis tool (NVivo 8), resulted in identification of five major themes that relate to how military families cope with military deployments: (a) school age children attitude, (b) behavioral change, (c) school support systems, (d) military support systems, (e) and preparation for deployment. The study results provide military and local school leadership with military family parents' perceptions about the effectiveness of existing support programs and information sufficient to change or create new programs aligned with military family support needs as expressed by participants. |
