PENN STATE CLEARINGHOUSE FOR MILITARY FAMILY READINESS: EXPANDING THE IMPLEMENTATION CAPACITY OF PROFESSIONALS

The Global War on Terror has required great sacrifice from service members and their families due to the pace of military operations, including multiple deployments and long separations (Manos, 2010). Evidence is mounting that multiple deployments have direct and indirect (through non-deployed parental health and well-being) negative effects on military children and families (Chandra, Burns, Tanielian, & Jaycox, 2011; Cozza, Chun, & Polo, 2005; Sheppard, Malatras, & Israel, 2010; Warner, Appenzeller, Warner, & Grieger, 2009). The prevention science field has a number of effective prevention and intervention programs that have been found to work across outcomes relevant to bolstering family readiness and strong communities (e.g., building family cohesiveness, improving family communications, decreasing risky behavior, mindful parenting). These evidence-based interventions (EBIs) may be portable to the military context. However, few EBIs have been adapted to meet the unique challenge of building military family readiness, and the effectiveness of these programs for military families has not yet been evaluated. We at the Clearinghouse hypothesize that EBIs hold out substantial promise for improving the lives of military families.