The Military Family Undergoing Separation: Impact Upon the Family and the Military Healthcare System.
Abstract
The family in the military has been subject to stressors in the past decade that are more intense in aspects never before experienced. The drawdown in military installations and personnel, particularly in overseas locations, has effected significant changes in the deployment of forces. At the same time there has been an increase in the numbers and types of operations and missions that the branches of the military are being committed to. Many of these actions require frequent and prolonged deployment of personnel from bases in the United States to remote locations worldwide. In this descriptive study the hypothesis that families who are experiencing separation due to military deployments utilize the Military Treatment Facility (MTF) more frequently than those not experiencing deployment is investigated. Six United States Air Force bases were chosen for study, with three of the bases having prolonged squadron deployments to overseas locations during 1997. The three non-deploying bases were used for comparison, selected for their close geographical proximity to the deploying bases. MTF utilization rates were calculated based on data contained in the Ambulatory Data System (ADS). The utilization rates for two of the base pairs follow approximately parallel trendlines The other pair has a crossover of the trendlines during the middle of the year, at a time when a deployment is occurring. The three deploying bases actually show a decrease in utilization rates during the period of deployment. One limitation of this study is that the ADS database cannot be queried by unit assignment, leading to utilization rates that are inflated due to family members who are experiencing deployment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA353120
Entities
People
- Wayne K. Sumpter
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology