When husbands remain at home: A qualitative look at the support Air Force husbands receive during a deployment

The experiences of being a military spouse are unique and often quite stressful, particularly during times of deployment. Previous research on military spouses only addressed the experiences of wives of active duty service members and ignored husbands who remain at home while their wives deploy. A review of the literature indicated that support during deployments is vital to the mental and physical health of the spouses who remain at home and further enables the military to complete its mission. However, there remains an important gap in the current literature regarding military spouses who are male. Because this growing population of spouses is underrepresented in the literature, it is unclear if husbands experience the same need for support as their female counterparts. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to use phenomenological methodology to explore the experiences of a group of husbands who remain at home during a deployment with regard to their need for support. Participants were recruited using both purposive and snowball sampling. Data were explicated through the use of coding thematic units based on meaning of the deployment as well as how and what support was received. Data were verified through the use of member checking, bracketing, and memoing and ultimately produced a thick description of the phenomenon. This study revealed that men experience the same types of stressors that women do; however they do not feel welcome in established support programs. This is an important contribution to the existing literature and will enhance social change initiatives by enabling support programs to be reworked to reach both men and women who are married to those serving on active duty.