Abstract
Combat injury can profoundly affect the children and families of service members. The range of experiences for these families varies depending the specific injury type, severity, and recovery trajectory; composition of the family; developmental age of the children; preexisting parent, child, or family characteristics; as well as the longer-term functional impact on the injured parent. Following the injury children and adolescents may display distress, emotional or behavioral problems, risk-taking behaviors, increased helpfulness within the family, or motivation to participate in community service. The impact on children is influenced by the capacity of both the injured and noninjured parents to cope effectively, maintain effective parenting, and help the child adjust to changes in family relationships and circumstances. Interventions with combat-injured families should focus on reducing distress, supporting healthy child and parent functioning, and encouraging constructive communication within families and with service providers about the injury.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Achenbach, T. M., McConaughy, S. H., & Howell, C. T. (1987). Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: Implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 213–232.
Anthony, E. J. (1970). The mutative impact of serious mental and physical illness of a parent on family life. In J. Anthony & C. Koupemik (Eds.), The Child in his family (pp. 131–163). New York: Wiley-Interscience.
Armistead, L., Klein, K., & Forehand, R. (1995). Parental physical illness and child functioning. Clinical Psychology Review, 15, 409–422.
Beardslee, W. R. (1984). Familial influences in childhood depression. Pediatric Annals, 13, 32–36.
Beardslee, W. R., & Wheelock, I. (1994). Children of parents with affective disorders: Empirical findings and clinical implications. In W. R. Reynolds & H. F. Johnston (Eds.), Handbook of depression in children. New York: Plenum.
Breton, J. J., Valla, J. P., & Lambert, J. (1993). Industrial disaster and mental health of children and their parents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 438–445.
Butera-Prinzi, F., & Perlesz, A. (2004). Through children’s eyes: Children’s experience of living with a parent with an acquired brain injury. Brain Injury, 18, 83–101.
Charles, N., Butera-Prinzi, F., & Perlesz, A. (2007). Families living with acquired brain injury: A multiple family group experience. NeuroRehabilitation, 22, 61–76.
Chesnut, R. M., Carney, N., Maynard, H., Patterson, P., Mann, N. C., & Helfand, M. (1999). Rehabilitation for traumatic brain injury. Rockville: Agency for Health Care Policy and Research.
Cohen, J. A., Mannarino, A. P., Gibson, L. E., Cozza, S. J., Brymer, M. J., & Murray, L. (2006). Interventions for children and adolescents following disasters. In E. C. Ritchie, P. J. Watson, & M. J. Friedman (Eds.), Interventions following mass violence and disasters (pp. 227–256). New York: Guilford.
Coyne, J. C., & Downey, G. (1991). Social factors and psychopathology: Stress, social support, and coping processes. Annual Review of Psychology, 42, 401–425.
Cozza, S. J. (Ed.). (2009). Proceedings: Workgroup on Intervention with Combat Injured Families. Bethesda: Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress.
Cozza, S. J., Chun, R. S., & Miller, C. (in press). The children and families of combat injured service members. In E. C. Richie (Ed.), War psychiatry. Washington: Borden Institute.
Cozza, S. J., Chun, R. S., & Polo, J. A. (2005). Military families and children during operation Iraqi freedom. Psychiatric Quarterly, 76, 371–378.
Cozza, S. J., Guimond, J. M., McKibben, J., Chun, R. S., Arata-Maiers, T. L., Schneider, B., et al. (2010). Combat injured service members and their families: The effect of deployment and combat injury on child distress. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23, 112–115.
Cozza, S. J., Schmidt J.A., Guimond J. M., & Feerick M. M. (2009). Discussions with combat injured families. Manuscript in preparation.
Dausch, B. M., & Saliman, S. (2009). Use of family focused therapy in rehabilitation for veterans with traumatic brain injury. Rehabilitation Psychology, 54, 279–287.
De Judicibus, M. A., & McCabe, M. P. (2004). The impact of parental multiple sclerosis on the adjustment of children and adolescents. Adolescence, 39, 551–569.
Diareme, S., Tsiantis, J., Kolaitis, G., Ferentinos, S., Tsalamanios, E., Paliokosta, E., et al. (2006). Emotional and behavioural difficulties in children of parents with multiple sclerosis: a controlled study in Greece. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 15, 309–318.
Dohrenwend, B. S., & Dohrenwend, B. P. (1981). Stressful life events and their contents. Reseda: Watson.
Ducharme, J. M., Spencer, T., Davidson, A., & Rushford, N. (2002). Errorless compliance training: Building a cooperative relationship between parents with brain injury and their oppositional children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 72, 585–595.
Finney, J. W., & Miller, K. M. (1998). Children of parents with medical illness. In W. K. Silverman & T. H. Ollendick (Eds.), Developmental issues in the clinical treatment of children (pp. 433–442). Needham Heights: Allyn and Bacon.
Grieger, T. A., Cozza, S. J., Ursano, R. J., Hoge, C., Martinez, P. E., Engel, C. C., et al. (2006). Posttraumatic stress disorder and depression in battle-injured soldiers. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 1777–1783. quiz 1860.
Halcomb, E., & Davidson, P. (2005). Using the illness trajectory framework to describe recovery from traumatic injury. Contemporary Nurse, 19, 232–241.
Hobfoll, S. E., Watson, P., Bell, C. C., Bryant, R. A., Brymer, M. J., Friedman, M. J., et al. (2007). Five essential elements of immediate and mid-term mass trauma intervention: empirical evidence. Psychiatry, 70, 283–315. discussion 316–269.
Kelley, S. D., & Sikka, A. (1997). A review of research on parental disability: Implications for Research and counseling practice. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 41, 105–121.
Kinzie, J. D., Sack, W. H., Angell, R. H., Manson, S., & Rath, B. (1986). The Psychiatric Effects of Massive Trauma on Cambodian Children: I. The Children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 25, 370–376.
Koren, D., Norman, D., Cohen, A., Berman, J., & Klein, E. M. (2005). Increased PTSD risk with combat-related injury: A matched comparison study of injured and uninjured soldiers experiencing the same combat events. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 276–282.
Korneluk, Y. G., & Lee, C. M. (1998). Children’s adjustment to parental physical illness. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 1, 179–193.
Kotchick, B. A., Summers, P., Forehand, R., & Steele, R. G. (1997). The role of parental and extrafamilial social support in the psychosocial adjustment of children with a chronically ill father. Behavior Modification, 21, 409–432.
Kreutzer, J. S., Rapport, L. J., Marwitz, J. H., Harrison-Felix, C., Hart, T., Glenn, M., et al. (2009). Caregivers’ well-being after traumatic brain injury: A multicenter prospective investigation. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 90, 939–946.
Laor, N., Wolmer, L., Mayes, L. C., Golomb, A., Silverberg, D. S., Weizman, R., et al. (1996). Israeli preschoolers under Scud missile attacks. A developmental perspective on risk-modifying factors. Archives of General Psychiatry, 53, 416–423.
LeClere, F. B., & Kowalewski, B. M. (1994). Disability in the family: The effects on children’s well-being. Journal of Marriage and Family, 56, 457–468.
Lester, P., Stein, J. A., & Bursch, B. (2003). Developmental predictors of somatic symptoms in adolescents of parents with HIV: a 12-month follow-up. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 24, 242–250.
MacGregor, A. J., Corson, K. S., Larson, G. E., Shaffer, R. A., Dougherty, A. L., Galarneau, M. R., et al. (2009). Injury-specific predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder. Injury, 40, 1004–1010.
Martire, L. M., Lustig, A. P., Schulz, R., Miller, G. E., & Helgeson, V. S. (2004). Is it beneficial to involve a family member? A meta-analysis of psychosocial interventions for chronic illness. Health Psychology, 23, 599–611.
McFarlane, A. C. (1987). Posttraumatic phenomena in a longitudinal study of children following a natural disaster. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 26, 764–769.
McLaughlin, A. M. (1992). Addressing the psychological needs of children with brain injured relatives: An activity group model. The Journal of Cognitive Rehabilitation, 10, 12–18.
Meiser-Stedman, R., Smith, P., Glucksman, E., Yule, W., & Dalgleish, T. (2007). Parent and child agreement for acute stress disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychopathology in a prospective study of children and adolescents exposed to single-event trauma. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 191–201.
Owens, B. D., Kragh, J. F., Jr., Wenke, J. C., Macaitis, J., Wade, C. E., & Holcomb, J. B. (2008). Combat wounds in operation Iraqi Freedom and operation Enduring Freedom. Journal of Trauma, 64, 295–299.
Pakenham, K. I., & Bursnall, S. (2006). Relations between social support, appraisal and coping and both positive and negative outcomes for children of a parent with multiple sclerosis and comparisons with children of healthy parents. Clinical Rehabilitation, 20, 709–723.
Pessar, L. F., Coad, M. L., Linn, R. T., & Willer, B. S. (1993). The effects of parental traumatic brain injury on the behaviour of parents and children. Brain Injury, 7, 231–240.
Peters, L. C., & Esses, L. M. (1985). Family environment as perceived by children with a chronically ill parent. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 38, 301–308.
Pfefferbaum, B. (1997). Posttraumatic stress disorder in children: A review of the past 10 years. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 1503–1511.
Ponsford, J., Olver, J., Ponsford, M., & Nelms, R. (2003). Long-term adjustment of families following traumatic brain injury where comprehensive rehabilitation has been provided. Brain Injury, 17, 453–468.
Power, P. W. (1979). The chronically ill husband and father: His role in the family. Family Coordinator, 28, 616–621.
Pynoos, R. S., & Nader, K. (1989). Children’s memory and proximity to violence. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 236–241.
Rutter, M. (1966). Children of sick parents: An environmental and psychiatric study. London: Oxford University Press.
Rutter, M., & Quinton, D. (1984). Parental psychiatric disorder: Effects on children. Psychological Medicine, 14, 853–880.
Sack, W. H., Clarke, G. N., & Seeley, J. (1995). Posttraumatic stress disorder across two generations of Cambodian refugees. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 1160–1166.
Saltzman, W., Lester, P., Pynoos, R., Mogil, C., Green, S., Layne, C., et al. (2009). FOCUS for military families individual family resiliency training manual (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.
U.S. Department of Defense. (2010). Military casualty information. Retrieved February 1, 2010, from http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/CASUALTY/castop.htm
U.S. Department of Defense. (2007). Demographics 2007: Profile of the Military Community. Retrieved August 20, 2009, from http://www.militaryonesource.com/MOS/ServiceProviders/2007DemographicsProfileoftheMilitaryCommuni.aspx.
Urbach, J. R. (1989). The impact of parental head trauma on families with children. Psychiatric Medicine, 7, 17–36.
Urbach, J. R., & Culbert, J. P. (1991). Head-injured parents and their children. Psychosocial consequences of a traumatic syndrome. Psychosomatics, 32, 24–33.
Uysal, S., Hibbard, M. R., Robillard, D., Pappadopulos, E., & Jaffe, M. (1998). The effect of parental traumatic brain injury on parenting and child behavior. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 13, 57–71.
Verhaeghe, S., Defloor, T., & Grypdonck, M. (2005). Stress and coping among families of patients with traumatic brain injury: A review of the literature. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 14, 1004–1012.
Visser-Meily, A., Post, M., Meijer, A. M., Maas, C., Ketelaar, M., & Lindeman, E. (2005). Children’s adjustment to a parent’s stroke: Determinants of health status and psychological problems, and the role of support from the rehabilitation team. Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 37, 236–241.
Visser-Meily, A., Post, M., Meijer, A. M., van de Port, I., Maas, C., & Lindeman, E. (2005). When a parent has a stroke: Clinical course and prediction of mood, behavior problems, and health status of their young children. Stroke, 36, 2436–2440.
Warden, D. (2006). Military TBI during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 21, 398–402.
Zatzick, D. F., Rivara, F. P., Nathens, A. B., Jurkovich, G. J., Wang, J., Fan, M. Y., et al. (2007). A nationwide US study of post-traumatic stress after hospitalization for physical injury. Psychological Medicine, 37, 1469–1480.
Zatzick, D. F., Roy-Byrne, P., Russo, J. E., Rivara, F. P., Koike, A., Jurkovich, G. J., et al. (2001). Collaborative interventions for physically injured trauma survivors: A pilot randomized effectiveness trial. General Hospital Psychiatry, 23, 114–123.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cozza, S.J., Guimond, J.M. (2011). Working with Combat-Injured Families Through the Recovery Trajectory. In: Wadsworth, S., Riggs, D. (eds) Risk and Resilience in U.S. Military Families. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7064-0_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7064-0_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-7063-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-7064-0
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)