<p> The research on military families during deployments, especially in recent years, has been prolific but also, at times, contradictory. Some studies have reported increased risk while others have reported resilience. Possible reasons for the risk and resilience controversy, as well as the understudied population of overseas military families, were the subject of this study. Currently, there is no research on the experience of deployment for military families who are stationed in foreign countries. The exact number of family members is unknown; however, just under 200,000 military members serve overseas. The first research question examined the effect of duty station (continental United States, English-speaking host nation, and non-English speaking host nation) on a family member&rsquo;s ability to cope. The second research question examined the relationship of acculturation with coping. The third research question examined the relationship of perceived social support with coping. It was hypothesized that families who were stationed overseas would be less able to cope, and that those who lived in non-English speaking host nations would experience even greater difficulty coping. Acculturation and perceived social support were identified as possible mediating factors for coping. Coping was measured using Carver&rsquo;s COPE Inventory (2013) and limited to only three of the 15 subscales: positive reinterpretation and growth, use of instrumental social support, and use of emotional social support. This study used the contextual model of family stress as a theoretical framework for understanding the interplay of deployment, duty station, acculturation, and perceived social support and how they resulted in risk or resilience as measured by coping. This study was designed as descriptive survey research with convenience sampling as the main recruitment method. An electronic survey was created and data from 173 adult military family members, mostly female spouses, were used to conduct nonparametric hypotheses testing. Results from the Kruskal-Wallis test by ranks showed a non-significant effect of duty station on coping. Results from Spearman&rsquo;s rank correlation coefficient revealed a weak association among acculturation and the subscales of coping, but a moderate, positive association between coping and perceived social support. The study was limited by the small sample size and lack of homogeneity among groups. Further research on this population is supported by the lack of literature and suggestions for future studies are presented.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this artistic self-case study is to explore how the role of the soldier might be transformed from service <i>in war</i> to service <i>for community,</i> via creative exploration of the archetypal figures, Warrior and Shaman. With this in mind, a creative and introspective method was tested for its efficacy in generating new images and stories to promote conflict transformation for our warrior class. </p><p> The strategy of inquiry employed is based on the case study model, modified to be a self-case study. Creation-based data was generated by the researcher to evoke intersubjective dialogue between academically rational and creatively nonrational data and processes in this research. In lieu of the traditional written chapters that comprise the body of a dissertation, &ldquo;creative chapters&rdquo; in the form of mixed media pictorial representations are presented. Data analysis was conducted using Abt&rsquo;s (2005) articulation of Jungian picture interpretation, in order to discern meaning from each creative chapter&mdash;the titles of which served as a query for topics related to the research question. </p><p> A liberation paradigm was then utilized as a critical point of departure, to guide the issues examined (healing and community roles for our warrior class), the people for whom the study is relevant (the warrior class and practitioners working with them), the researcher&rsquo;s role in the study (up front/personal; grounded in experience), and how the research was presented in its final form (written text with supporting pictorial data; conclusions drawn from creative interpretation). </p><p> The combined chapter interpretations were reviewed and analyzed in the concluding chapter for their implications in community praxis with returning soldiers and veterans. They revealed consistent themes of imbalanced masculine and feminine energies, and the need for development of an introspective, Shamanic aptitude by our Warriors in order for them to continue their duty of protection and care of their local communities. </p><p> Recommendations are then made for adapting this research model in community work with soldiers and veterans, along with suggestions for building greater levels of reliability, validity, and generalizability into creative qualitative research. </p><p> Keywords: Warrior, Shaman, trauma, conflict transformation, resilient communities, Jungian, phronesis, counterinsurgency, initiation, creative.</p>