Academic support resources are increasingly available to military-connected youth; however, the military community, in general, tends to under-utilize available resources. The research literature has not clearly identified accessibility to military academic support resources or perceived effectiveness of resources as explanations for under-utilization of adolescent support services. The current research study examines military parents' perceptions of academic resource programs looking at how parents' perception of resource accessibility and resource effectiveness were related to program utilization. Based on qualitative analysis of military parent interviews, utilization was related to both accessibility and effectiveness. This research adds to the literature by identifying the relationship to between accessibility and utilization and reported effectiveness and utilization of academic support resources.

SAMMANFATTNING En utlandstjänstgöring är ingen enskild angelägenhet för den försvarsanställde utan påverkar hela familjen. Omstruktureringen från allmän värnplikt inom Försvarsmakten till en yrkesarmé med obligatorisk utlands- tjänstgöring har lett till ökat antal berörda anhöriga. Det är väsentligt att stödet till de anhöriga och speciellt till barnen kommer i fokus. Studien riktade sig till de anhöriga och deras uppfattningar kring utlandstjänsten och anhörigstödet. Deltagarna bestod främst av partners eller föräldrar till försvarsanställda i utlandstjänstgöring. De flesta anhöriga som deltog i studien ansåg att anhörigstödet var tillräckligt bra och att deras uppfattning av utlands-tjänstgöringen i stort överensstämde med deras förväntningar. Utlandstjänstens påverkan på barnen kan kopplas samman med hur föräldrarna klarar av att hantera situationen. Studiens anhöriga ansåg att de flesta av barnen uppvisade få reaktioner som kunde kopplas till utlandstjänsten och att barnen varken reagerat positivt eller negativt på föräldrarnas utlandstjänstgöring. Stödet och förståelsen från skolorna var tillräckligt bra. Bland de anhöriga fanns ett stort behov av information som rörde missionen. Brister i kommunikationen mellan de anhöriga och Försvarsmakten noterades, vilka bland annat rörde var information kring utlandstjänsten fanns att tillgå. De största källorna till oro för de anhöriga var ängslan för att deras försvarsanställda skulle drabbas av fysiska eller psykiska skador eller dödas. Trots oron för risker och faror var övervägande delen av de anhöriga positivt inställda till en framtida utlandstjänstgöring. / ABSTRACT A deployment is not a single concern of the defense employee. It is a concern of the whole family. The restructuring from enlistment within the Armed Forces into an employment with compulsory service abroad has led to increased number of relatives. It is essential that the support to the relatives, and especially children of deployed parents, are put into focus. The study was aimed towards the families and their perceptions of the deployment and the family support. The participants of the survey were mainly partners or parents of defense employees in deployment. Most of the relatives who participated in the study felt that the family support was good enough and that their perception of the service abroad in most cases was consistent with their own expectations. The affects of the deployment among children can be linked to the capacity of the parents in the way they are able to handle the everyday situation at home. According to their relatives most of the children involved in the study showed few negative reactions that could be linked to the deployment. The majority of the children responded neither negatively nor positively on their parents’ deployment and the support and understanding from the schools were good enough according to the parents. There was a great demand of information concerning the deployment among the relatives. The study found a deficiency in communication between the relatives and the Armed Forces regarding where to find the information. The relatives’ biggest fears were that their deployed kin would suffer physical or psychological injuries or be killed. However, despite the worries about the risks and dangers, the majority of the relatives were in favor of a future service abroad.

This study investigated the subjectively constructed narratives of how veterans’ retrospective experiences of trying to balance career and parental roles. Narrative-oriented inquiry (NOI), which has not been used as a framework in previous research within the area of work-family balance in general and within research involving military families more specifically, was the primary orienting methodology in the current study. Five veterans, all male and who currently reside in the area of Victoria BC, participated in the process of co-constructing their individual 1st-person narratives with the primary researcher. The six stages of Arvay’s (2002) Collaborative Narrative Method were used as the guiding framework for the creation of these narratives. Implications that came out of these narratives in regards to future research and counselling practice are also discussed.