TY - JOUR
T1 - “This Gradual Swing Back into Us”
T2 - Active Duty Army Spouses’ Experiences During Homecoming and Post-Deployment Family Reintegration
AU - For the STRONG STAR Consortium
AU - Drew, Alison L.
AU - Blankenship, Abby E.
AU - Kritikos, Tessa K.
AU - Jacoby, Vanessa M.
AU - Dondanville, Katherine A.
AU - Yarvis, Jeffrey S.
AU - Sharrieff, Allah Fard
AU - McGeary, Cindy A.
AU - Blount, Tabatha H.
AU - Young-McCaughan, Stacey
AU - Peterson, Alan L
AU - DeVoe, and Ellen R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
PY - 2022/7
Y1 - 2022/7
N2 - There is acknowledgment that deployments can be stressful for military spouses; however, less is known about their experiences post-deployment. This qualitative study examined the post-deployment experiences of 16 female spouses, whose active duty Army husband had returned from deployment within the previous 2 years and who had a young child during the deployment. Spouses reported that the time surrounding their husbands’ return was one of the great transitions, often accompanied by stress. Most families were able to work through challenges and show positive adjustment over time. However, some spouses described severe post-deployment challenges marked by disconnect from their partners; three of these were spouses whose husbands had posttraumatic stress disorder. The findings address how spouses prepared for their husband’s return, their reunion experiences, the process of reintegrating their husband into family life, and individual changes in the partners post-deployment. Facilitators and challenges to adjustment were identified as potential targets for interventions.
AB - There is acknowledgment that deployments can be stressful for military spouses; however, less is known about their experiences post-deployment. This qualitative study examined the post-deployment experiences of 16 female spouses, whose active duty Army husband had returned from deployment within the previous 2 years and who had a young child during the deployment. Spouses reported that the time surrounding their husbands’ return was one of the great transitions, often accompanied by stress. Most families were able to work through challenges and show positive adjustment over time. However, some spouses described severe post-deployment challenges marked by disconnect from their partners; three of these were spouses whose husbands had posttraumatic stress disorder. The findings address how spouses prepared for their husband’s return, their reunion experiences, the process of reintegrating their husband into family life, and individual changes in the partners post-deployment. Facilitators and challenges to adjustment were identified as potential targets for interventions.
KW - active duty Army
KW - deployment
KW - military spouses
KW - parental and family adjustment
KW - qualitative research
KW - reintegration
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132813334&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85132813334&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0192513X211030023
DO - 10.1177/0192513X211030023
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85132813334
SN - 0192-513X
VL - 43
SP - 1946
EP - 1967
JO - Journal of Family Issues
JF - Journal of Family Issues
IS - 7
ER -