HomeFront Strong: Building Resiliency in Military Families
Abstract
The current project aims to improve the psychological health and well-being of military and veteran families residing in civilian communities by implementing and evaluating HomeFront Strong (HFS), a promising evidence-based intervention for military and veteran spouses/partners, and their children. This project is guided by three Aims: 1. Develop and field test an HFS mobile website; 2. Train community providers to disseminate HFS at their community sites; and 3. Evaluate the mental health outcomes of group vs. web-based HFS in a sample of 321 military and veteran spouses/partners. In Year 6, the HFS mobile website (Aim 1) continued to be fully operational with extant procedures in place for collecting usage paradata. To date, we have trained 107 community providers in military family resilience and the HomeFront Strong intervention (Aim 2). Fourteen in-person HFS groups have been delivered with 12 community providers (three groups completed during the first half of Year 6), with an ongoing evaluation of the implementation of HFS, including fidelity to the model. Pursuant to Aim 3, participant recruitment has been a primary focus in Year 6. The coronavirus pandemic that began midway through Year 6 led to the suspension of all in-person research activities. HFS staff quickly pivoted to focus on virtual strategies for outreach and recruitment of participants. In coordination with the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency (MVAA), program brochures were mailed to more than 16,500 military and veteran families in Michigan. This creative outreach along with the option for participants to select a web-based HFS intervention condition kept recruitment numbers on target for the year (N=77; total=312). Enrollment into the program in Quarter 4 of this year represented our highest recruitment period to date (N=31), evidence that military families need mental health resources during times of stress and challenge, and that web-based programs fill a critical gap in services.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2020
- Accession Number
- AD1119012
Entities
People
- Michelle Kees
Organizations
- Board of Regents of the University of Michigan