Military Families and the Cycle of Deployment

CLI MV515 - Military Families and the Cycle of Deployment

Credits: 1

This course will explore the psychological and relational effects of military service on immediate and extended family, as well as on other loved ones. Students will receive an overview of the cycle of deployment, with special emphasis on how each of its phases affects the functioning of spouses and children. Risk and protective factors predictive of family coping or relational distress will also be examined, including age of children, length of marriage or relationship, attachment dynamics, and the quality of environmental supports for at-home spouses. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the unique culture of the military, the possible differences in coping and adjustment of various ethnic or cultural groups, and the psychological/relational challenges for family members at each point along the deployment-reunion continuum. Students in this course will develop familiarity with specific intervention strategies to enhance military or veteran family functioning, and will examine a number of empirically supported intervention models. Special consideration will be given to guidelines for building therapeutic alliances with military or veteran families of diverse or minority cultural backgrounds, and with those that have faced the death or injury of family members as a result of military service. The interpersonal implications of Combat-Induced Stress Reaction and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder will be under consideration throughout the semester. This course will utilize a combination of lecture, discussion, media and audio-visual enhancements, brief student presentations. CLI FX701; COU FX510; SCH FX701. (Military Families and the Cycle of Deployment is designed to be taken concurrently with or subsequently to one of these introductory courses).