What we are learning about the needs of Combat-Injured Families: Preliminary findings from the Brooke Army Medical Center and Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Major physical and psychological injuries of military service members have a significant impact on them, their children, spouses, and family well-being. The potential for prolonged negative impact on family health and mental health underscores the need for both careful study and targeted interventions. The impact of children's exposure to severe injuries of a military service member parent have been little examined, though thousands of children are now so affected as a result of parental combat injuries sustained during OEF and OIF over the last seven years. The Parent Guidance Assessment-Combat Injury (PGA-CI) is a semi-structured interview designed to gather systematic information about family demographics, the family's deployment experience(s), nature of the service member's combat injury(s), family communication patterns about the injury(s) and the associated emotional and behavioral impact for parents and children, and family's approach to planning for adjustment to injury and related changes. Such changes most frequently include the short- or long-term relocation of the service member's family, affecting children's schooling, routines, and the family's housing and social supports. The PGA-CI has been implemented at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in a pilot study with 41 families over three years. This presentation will provide preliminary results from the PGA-CI study, focusing on the BAMC families, identifying areas for further research, and discussing unmet service needs within civilian and military care systems to address the immediate and ongoing needs of affected children, service members, and their families.