A program desert for military children

Children from military families face different problems to their classmates. Their wellbeing is vital; so is it being monitored in schools?

There are a number of challenges that children have to contend with when a parent serves in the military. They worry that their mother or father will be hurt in combat; they may not see their parent for months; and they typically have to move house often. All these factors can have a profound effect on the wellbeing of these school-aged children, so we would expect there to be a large amount of research on school-based interventions to help them.

Yet it seems there isn’t. An American research team conducted a large systematic review of studies published up to August 2013 to identify how many programs in non-military schools were available to help military-connected children and what the effects were. Despite screening over 1,400 articles, only one met their inclusion criteria, and that showed that the program in question had no effect.

To be included, studies had to examine the effects of interventions for children in military families using a randomized controlled or quasi-experimental design study. Studies had to measure a behavioral, social, emotional or educational outcome and the intervention had to take place in an elementary or secondary school in the US.

The single included study was an evaluation of Children of Deployed Parents-Group, a group counseling format aimed at helping children develop coping and problem-solving skills. A guidance counselor delivered the program over six sessions and it was hoped that this would help lower children’s anxiety and negative behaviors displayed as a result of their parent’s deployment.

However, the intervention itself was found to be ineffective, with no significant impact for students in the areas of anxiety, self-esteem, or internalizing and externalizing behaviors.

This seeming lack of effective interventions for military children in mainstream schools is startling: US military activities have been prominent over recent years and we understand the damaging effects of stress on health better than at any previous point.

America deployed more than 2.1 million members of the Armed Forces between 2001-2010, and about 44% of these were parents. This means that around 2 million children experienced a parental deployment in that decade. A growing body of evidence suggests that children whose parents are deployed are more likely to experience stress and emotional difficulties. This is clearly a substantial population at risk of harm.

It seems clear that military-connected children may be at added risk of stress. But is school the right place to support them?

Of course, this review did not account for programs in other locations such as community-based interventions or in US Department of Defense (DoD) schools. However, only about 7% of children of active duty personnel attend DoD schools. The large majority – as well as children of Reserve personnel and veterans – will be growing up in civilian communities without the support and understanding that they require.

As a result, the authors argue, school-based mental health professionals are in a “unique position” to support military children. But there is a general lack of training on how these professionals can work with military families.

The implications of this are far-reaching. The review’s authors advocate for development and testing of school-based programs for vulnerable children from military families, as early intervention and increased awareness may prevent future problems. In addition, more training for school staff and social workers in mainstream schools may help them to better recognize issues in military-connected children and enable them to step in earlier to safeguard their wellbeing.

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Reference:
Esposito Brendel, K., Maynard, B., Albright, D., & Bellomo, M. (2014). Effects of School-Based Interventions with Military-Connected Children: A Systematic Review. Research on Social Work Practice, 24, (6). 649-658.