Strong Families Strong Forces: Supporting Active Duty Families With Very Young Children

The overall aim of this research is to adapt and evaluate the efficacy of a parenting program compared to a parental self-care program for Active Duty families. A sample of 150 Active Duty families with young children who have a parent scheduled to deploy in the next six months will be recruited to participate. Families will be assigned either to receive the Strong Families Strong Forces Parenting Program, designed to reduce the impact of deployment separation on parenting stress and co-parenting, or to the Strong Parents Self-Care program, designed to support parents to focus on the importance of self-care throughout the deployment cycle. Investigators will compare the two groups on parenting stress, quality of parent-child relationships, parenting/co-parenting, and family and child well-being.

Inclusion criteria

• Cohabitating couple with at least one child age birth to 5 years old in which one parent is active duty and is scheduled to deploy within the next 6 months
• Anticipated deployment time must be at least six months and excludes separations due to the Service Member attending a school
• Anticipate that non-deploying parent will remain in the area during the deployment
• Both parents are willing to consent to study participation
• DEERS -eligible
• 18 years or older
• English-speaking
• The parent remaining at home to care for the children anticipates remaining within 30 miles of Fort Hood to be seen in home, otherwise will need to be seen in office
• Anticipate that both parents will remain in the area for at least three months after redeployment to complete intervention and follow-up assessment

Exclusion criteria

• Any family member with a significant medical or psychiatric condition requiring a higher level of care than can be provided by the study/comparison protocols
• Active psychosis or mania