¶ … Creech, S., Hadley, W., & Borsari, B. (2014, December). The Impact of Military Deployment and Reintegration on Children and Parenting: A Systematic Review. Retrieved from NCBI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4383395/ Gewirtz, A., Erbes, C., Polusny, M., Forgatch, M., & DeGamo, D. (2011, February). Helping military families through the deployment process: Strategies to support parenting. Retrieved from NCBI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3155511/

(2) Article summary

The Impact of Military Deployment and Reintegration on Children and Parenting: A Systematic Review

More than a thousand children have had one parent take part in the Iraq military operations, including Operation New Dawn (OND) or Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) as well as Afghanistan's Operation Enduring Freedom (AOEF); but there is little information about the effect of deployment on the relationship between the children and their parents. This article analyzes the findings from three different areas, which includes the separation of the parents and children and their health, behavioral, and emotional outcome due to deployment; the effect of mental health symptoms of the parents after and during reintegration; and the present treatment methods in military families and veterans. Different trends were seen as a result of deployment, at first, across different age groups; the deployment might be linked with increased behavioral and emotional issues for the children, which include high rates of visits to healthcare places because of psychological issues. Secondly, the symptoms of depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder might be linked to high symptomatology and issues with parenting during reintegration. Thirdly, even though a lot of different approaches have emerged for treating military families, most of them are either still not tested or on the initial stages of evaluation and implementation. This article brings out more avenues for further research (Creech, Hadley, & Borsari, 2014).

Helping Military Families through the Deployment Process: Strategies to Support Parenting

Several studies have talked about the effect of deployment on children and families and several interventions have been put forward. However, in history, little importance has been given to the interventions for families, especially parents. This article talks about the research on links between adjustment problems of children, parenting problems, adjustment of parents of spouses and service members and combat deployment. It also talks about the framework of social interaction for practice and research to support parents belonging to a military family. The article also mentions the Parent Management Training Oregon Model, which helps in improving the practices of parents and adjustment of the children in families that are highly stressed. The article also provides recommendations for the clinicians who provide support to the military families (Gewirtz, Erbes, Polusny, Forgatch, & DeGamo, 2011).

(3) Similarities and Differences in both Articles

Both the articles present several studies and literature that talk about the challenges and problems that the military families face during and after deployment. According to Gewirtz et al. (2011), the families of the person deployed are the heroes that are not mentioned and appreciated because they too go through psychological issues that are not often talked about. The partners of the person deployed face several worrisome days as they get no news or any information about their loved one in the military. The children too, not knowing whether their parent would return safely to them or ever return at all, face the absence of a role model and have to adapt without them. Furthermore, the veterans who return from the war also face challenges in adjusting to the civilian life. They go through depression, PTSD, drug abuse and even transitions in everyday life (Gewirtz, Erbes, Polusny, Forgatch, & DeGamo, 2011). The article further mentions the impact of combat deployment on the different members of military families. The medical data of around 250,000 wives of army persons states that the veterans deployed to OIF and OEF were treated for depression, anxiety, sleep issues, adjustment issues and stress reactions. The findings of Chandra et al. (2010) stated that the interviews of 1507 families revealed high emotional problems in children of a parent deployed for war. Furthermore, the data also stated that the veterans who return from war face adjustment problems with their partner and children, which also leads towards depression, drug abuse and emotional and behavioral problems among all the family members (Patterson, Reid & Dishion, 1998). The article includes Parent Management Training Oregon Model, which is a parenting intervention model that can also be helpful to the military families (Gewirtz, Erbes, Polusny, Forgatch, & DeGamo, 2011).

The article by Creech et al., (2014) also presents several studies, but it clearly...

The study measures the emotional and behavioral problem faced by the children whose parent is deployed. The survey showed depression and stress among the parents, while several behavioral and adjustment problems were found in children (Barker & Berry, 2009). Another study stated that the youth aged from 11 to 16 who had a parent deployed in the army faced more psychological and adjustment problems as compared to the youth who had no parent deployed in the army. Moreover, the impact of substance use is also discussed in the article, and the children might also go through medicinal issues. The literature reintegration also states that PTSD and depression are at higher levels among the veterans and the children, and their partners also find adjustment difficulties due to the veterans' behavior. Several interventions like Project FOCUS, Strong Families Strong Forces and ADAPT are discussed in the article (Creech, Hadley, & Borsari, 2014).
(4) The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Articles in Terms of their Scholarship

Gewirtz et al. (2011) provides very strong recommendations, which would help in supporting the military families. These strategies were extracted from the Parent Management Training Oregon Model (PMTO), which has been used in improving the child and parent adjustment between the veterans and their families. The strategies include: addressing the stress of the families within the cycle of deployment, establishing strategies to increase regulation of emotions for impactful parenting, and building adaptability among the military families. The parenting strategies mentioned in this article are not substitutes for individual stress that is faced by the deployed persons, and even the members who lose a family member have more serious interventions. Helping the caregivers or parents to work together for the children and the families reduce several issues like depression and stress. The article does not have any weakness as it covers several strategies and also gives recommendations for the practitioners based on the model presented in the research.

The article by Creech et al. (2014) presents the research on different ages and what problems they might face during and after deployment. The article also mentions reintegration and gives separate data on both the terms. Furthermore, it suggests several intervention projects that might help the family and the mentioned options of more than one intervention provides detailed information about how many programs can help the military families. Recommendations for clinical practices are also given at the end, which would help the veterans as well as their families to overcome psychological problems. Confidentiality concerns are also mentioned among the families and it is suggested that the military providers must address those issues so that there is no barrier in the psychological problem they receive. The article clearly provides a stance for future research and no clear weakness was seen in the article (Creech, Hadley, & Borsari, 2014).

(5) The Importance of the Articles to Clinical Practice with Military Affiliated Families

Both the articles are useful for the field of clinical practice as they mention several intervention programs that would help the clinicians in supporting the military families. Gewirtz et al. (2011) presents the Parent Management Training Oregon Model, which has helped a lot of parenting and children adjustments. After Deployment Adaptive Parenting Tools Programs (ADAPT) has also been developed to help the military cultures and families. This particular program has been established from the strategies of PMTO, which is accessible to the family members of the military family. The programs of PMTO require the same important principles, information, practice, teaching and support, which can only be given through the help of clinicians to the family members. These programs also include: skills of encouragement, positivity, monitoring the activities of the children and problem solving activities of the families. Creech et al. (2014) provides several intervention programs that the clinicians can adopt to support the family members. The Project FOCUS (Families Overcoming Under Stress) is designed to establish and encourage resilience in the family members, which includes completing 8 sessions. The sessions have an indirect impact on the families to reduce stress. Passport to Success is another program mentioned in the article, which helps the adolescents and the children with reintegration. This program is still under improvement phases, but it would be a good project for the clinicians to help the children overcome adjustability issues.

(6) How the Articles Fit into a Bigger Context (or not) of Clinical Practice with Military Affiliated Families

All the projects or programs mentioned in the articles fit into a bigger picture for the clinicians because they widely help the family members of the military. Several centers are built where different activities…