Collaborative Project to Study Trauma in Military Families

The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded the Boston University School of Social Work $1.65 million for a four-year (2008 to 2012) project to develop a family-based intervention for service members returning from Iraq and their young children (under 5 years). The broader context of the Global War on Terror, including the nature of current combat experiences and the reality of multiple and lengthy deployments, will be incorporated into intervention design. In a highly competitive process, five of 144 proposals were recommended for funding, and BUSSW is the only social work program recipient.

The study will be implemented by a collaborative, multidisciplinary partnership involving the School of Social Work, the Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston Medical Center, BU School of Public Health, and the Boston Veteran’s Administration (VA). The Principal Investigator for the project is BUSSW Professor Ellen R. DeVoe, PhD, and the Co-Investigator is BUSSW Professor Ruth Paris, PhD. Boston Medical Center’s Principal Investigator is BUSSW alumna Betsy McAlister Groves (’75), LICSW, with Co-Investigator Marilyn Augustyn, MD. The other collaborators include Lisa Sullivan, PhD, BU School of Public Health and Terry Keane, PhD, of the Boston VA. The award will also include funding for MSW and PhD students who are interested in research and clinical work with veterans and their families.

During the first phase of the project researchers will develop greater understanding of the impact of active duty experiences and combat stress on parenting and family well-being through interviews with service members and their partners/spouses. Mental health professionals working with the military also will be interviewed regarding services available to families during the reintegration phase of the cycle of deployment. These strategies will maximize input regarding service members’ experiences with current systems of care and identify perceptions of need related to family reintegration and parenting of very young children after deployment.

The second phase of the study will involve development of a family-based intervention with service members and their families. The intervention will address the unique developmental needs of very young children, the importance of the parent-child relationship in supporting child development in the 0 to 5 years, and the potentially profound impact of war trauma on parenting and the parent-child relationship. In the final phase of the research, a randomized trial will be conducted comparing outcomes for participants in the family-based intervention with a comparison group.

The project targets the significantly underserved population of service members returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom who are parents of young children. The research will provide a much-needed focus on the challenges facing active duty families and the critical developmental context for children under five. The project will result in an evidence-based approach to intervention to address the impact of war-related trauma on parent-child relationships, parenting, and young child development.

For more information, please contact Dr. DeVoe at edevoe@bu.edu or Dr. Paris at rparis@bu.edu