Military Children: Unique Risks for Mental Health and Wellbeing and Implications for School-Based Social Work Support

Frederick, John; Siebler, Philip

doi:10.1080/00377317.2023.2189469

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 50 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…22 Many children from Defence families who relocate need to attend multiple early childhood services and schools 22 and may have trouble bonding with educators, all conditions which may impact reaching their learning potential. 23 This was reflected in the 2019 Defence Families Survey, where respondents with dependent children indicated their children's education as the most important consideration regarding the Defence lifestyle. 23 Access to educational settings is often limited, and enrolment can be subject to waiting lists, making it impossible for Defence families to navigate due to frequent and sudden relocations.…”

Section: What This Paper Addsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…23 This was reflected in the 2019 Defence Families Survey, where respondents with dependent children indicated their children's education as the most important consideration regarding the Defence lifestyle. 23 Access to educational settings is often limited, and enrolment can be subject to waiting lists, making it impossible for Defence families to navigate due to frequent and sudden relocations. Children can also struggle to sustain lasting friendships due to frequent locations.…”

Section: What This Paper Addsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Children can also struggle to sustain lasting friendships due to frequent locations. 23 While the challenges for military families are many, support for them in Australia has often been ad hoc. 25 There are barriers to access to support programs and services on offer for Defence families.…”

Section: What This Paper Addsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…26 These can include gatherings, such as Unit family days, pastoral and social work support, funded communication with the member whilst deployed, subsidised housing and a few children's resources, mainly for 8-to 12-year-olds. 26 According to the 2019 Defence Families survey, while approximately half of the families who utilised Defence-affiliated supports found them useful, 23 the overall utilisation of such supports remains low. For example, less than half of the respondents who were aware of a service reported using it, and for most services, usage has been decreasing since 2017.…”

Section: What This Paper Addsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Parental perceptions of social and emotional well‐being of young children from Australian military families

Rogers,

Johnson,

Coffey

et al. 2023

Australian J Rural Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

IntroductionMany Australian Defence Force (ADF) and Veteran families are affected by the stressors of Defence family life, including frequent and prolonged parental deployments, and frequent relocations.ObjectiveTo address a gap in information about Defence and Veteran (hereafter Defence) parents' knowledge, confidence and resources to support their young children's well‐being and build their resilience.DesignThis study used a mixed methods design to explore Defence parent's perceptions of their young children's (aged 2–8 years) social and emotional well‐being and understanding of their children's responses to unique stressors as well as their confidence in providing support. Data from 41 parents were available.FindingsOverall, parents reported positive well‐being evaluation of their children. However, just over a third of parents also reported that their children rarely cope well on two indicators combined (adapting to new situations and sharing negative emotions with others). Significantly, more than half of the parents (61%) were only partially confident in their ability to assist their children to cope with unique stressors in military families. Qualitative data provided further insights into children's struggle with relocations and parental absence and the challenges parents face in supporting them. Parents reported having limited access to effective age‐ and culturally appropriate resources to support their young children.DiscussionIn a first‐of‐its kind study, we found that Australian Defence parents reported their young children were coping on most of the key well‐being indicators. However, awareness of currently available supports for children remains a barrier as well as access to contextualised, age‐ and culturally appropriate resources are lacking.ConclusionThere is a need for access to free, quality, online, research‐based Australian resources to support young children from Defence families, especially for those living in regional and rural locations and are less likely to have access to mental health and other specialist supports.

show abstract

Section: What This Paper Addsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What This Paper Addsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What This Paper Addsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What This Paper Addsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Parental perceptions of social and emotional well‐being of young children from Australian military families

Rogers,

Johnson,

Coffey

et al. 2023

Australian J Rural Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Gathering voices and experiences of Australian military families: Developing family support resources

Rogers,

Johnson,

Coffey

2024

Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

LAY SUMMARY Research has often overlooked the voices of children from Australian Defence Force families. Past research on how young children experience military family life relied heavily on parents’ perspectives alone, leaving children’s voices unheard. In this study, 19 young children were recognized as competent communicators and experts in their own lives while also valuing the insights of their parents and early childhood educators. Children’s unique perspectives, knowledge, and experiences were collected through shared stories, chats, observation, photographs, reflection, and the creative arts. The study found children of deployed parents experienced physical, social, emotional, and cognitive responses and difficulty with frequent relocations and family transitions, often related to parental deployment and training episodes. Risk and protective factors, and a shortage of resources that cater to their age and cultural backgrounds to support children in making sense of their experiences, were discovered. The authors co-created free online research-based resources to address this gap and build children’s strengths.

show abstract

Military Children: Unique Risks for Mental Health and Wellbeing and Implications for School-Based Social Work Support

Cited by 2 publications

References 50 publications

Parental perceptions of social and emotional well‐being of young children from Australian military families

Parental perceptions of social and emotional well‐being of young children from Australian military families

Gathering voices and experiences of Australian military families: Developing family support resources

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About