| Background: Military families Post-9/11 have been taxed by lengthy and frequent deployments and physical and mental injuries. Despite the clear importance of understanding the impact of deployments and service member injuries on family relationships, there are substantial gaps in the limited research literature on post 9/11 military families. Objective: To provide an in-depth understanding of the impact of military life on family functioning through descriptive accounts and comparing experiences of post 9/11 military families from normative active duty (AD) and non-normative wounded warrior (WW) perspectives. Method: To gain detailed insight and understanding into participants' thinking and perceptions of military life, four semi-structured focus groups were conducted with two groups of spouses, 13 AD and 12 WW. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was utilized to construct meaning from the information gathered in the focus groups. This was accomplished by categorizing the data into themes identified from participants' descriptions of the issues, events, and expressed feelings. Results: A number of themes emerged from the detailed narrative accounts of the two groups. Superordinate themes for AD spouses include the general military experience and deployments with themes related to support, children and identity. Superordinate theme for WW spouses included the impact of the injury with themes related to the medical experience, impact on children, support, and identity. Conclusions: Consistent with previous research, normative military experiences for AD families (frequent moves, being away from family, and the deployment cycle) strain the marriage, negatively affect the wellbeing of the non-military spouse, and impact children's adjustment. Also in line with past research, spouses in WW families exhibit feelings of guilt, social isolation, confusion, lower marital quality, negative impact on wellbeing, role strain, and caregiver burden in relation to the non-normative experience of war-related injuries. However, findings from this research demonstrate that both groups experience growth in phases in relation to their adaptation to military life; experiencing anger, grief, letting go, and acceptance. Furthermore, despite a number of challenging experiences, flexibility and a positive mental outlook contribute to success in a military marriage and lead to resilience for spouses in general, and those navigating the terrain of war-related injuries. |
