Deployment Issues for Women Veterans and their Children

Deployment creates unique experiences and issues for women veterans and their children. Although each family has their own understanding of deployment, examining common issues throughout families may inform future practice with military families. For this research the deployment issues that are present for women veterans and their children were examined. A secondary data analysis analyzed eight participants (n=8) and their children who had discussions regarding non-deployment and deployment issues in addition to completing problem solving tasks. This study found that deployment issues for these families were sadness about the deployed parent being gone, talking about deployment, communicating during deployment, missing birthdays during deployment, the concern of a parent being injured or killed during deployment and the parent needing space upon returning from deployment. A theme found was the presence of emotions surrounding deployment despite the unique issues that were encountered for each family. This information can allow social workers to provide better informed treatment for military families and promote increased development of mental health services for veterans and their children.