Air Force Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Programs and Services: Contribution to Airman and Family Resilience and Readiness

Abstract

Morale, Recreation, and Welfare (MWR) programs and services are considered an integral part of building resilient and ready Airmen and families. However, the Air Force currently lacks an evidence-informed evaluation framework for its MWR portfolio, especially one that identifies short-term and intermediate outcomes that contribute to Airmen and family resilience and readiness. These earlier outcomes can be thought of as precursors to overall resilience and readiness. A necessary first step in determining the possible impact of the MWR portfolio is to identify, and then assess, how each individual program or service contributes to resilience and readiness. The purpose of this report is to provide a summary of the method used to develop a model of the precursors, or building blocks, of resilience and readiness. It also presents the model itself, focusing on direct and indirect building blocks at the individual, family, peer/squadron, and community levels. Ultimately this model provides the basis for a comparison of evidence-informed resilience and readiness building blocks to the short-term and immediate outcomes targeted by programs and services within the Air Force MWR portfolio. This matching process helps the Air Force understand how its portfolio of MWR programs and services may enable and enhance a more resilient and ready force. It does not, however, identify whether MWR programs and services are actually meeting their intended objectives. The report concludes with a discussion of the data needed - primarily, measures of effectiveness - to assess whether MWR programs and services are achieving their intended outcomes. In this section, a notional, ideal data management system is compared to Air Force current practice. Where gaps exist, recommendations are developed to address them.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2019
Accession Number
AD1086452

Entities

People

  • Christopher M. Busque
  • Dana Schultz
  • Felix Knutson
  • Laura L. Miller
  • Leslie A. Payne
  • Margaret Tankard
  • Sarah O. Meadows
  • Stephani L. Wrabel
  • Stephanie B. Holliday
  • Wing Y. Chan

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Engineered Resilient Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Cognitive Systems Engineering
  • Crime
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Families (Human)
  • Health Services
  • Human Behavior
  • Human Population
  • Intellectual Disability
  • Medical Personnel
  • Psychiatry
  • Psychological Adaptation
  • Psychological Phenomena And Processes
  • Psychology
  • Recreation
  • Social Psychology
  • Societies

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.
  • Systems Analysis and Design