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FOCUS for Early Childhood: A Virtual Home Visiting Program for Military Families with Young Children

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Abstract

The risk for mental health problems and relational difficulties in military service members, spouses, and children is well-established. Yet, few services are available for families, particularly during the formative preschool years, when healthy parent–child relationships are crucial to the attainment of major socio-emotional milestones that form the foundation for later development. This paper describes the adaptation of a previously established military and trauma-informed preventive intervention, Families OverComing Under Stress (FOCUS) for use with families with a preschool-aged child (FOCUS for Early Childhood; FOCUS-EC). Grounded in theory and research on family resilience, FOCUS-EC aims to support parents as leaders of the family by providing developmental guidance and psychoeducation on deployment and reintegration, facilitate the construction of a family narrative, and enhance parenting strategies and the parent–child relationship. Furthermore, FOCUS-EC was adapted for use in a telehealth platform, enabling clinicians to reach military and veteran families in their homes, which is particularly useful for high-risk civilian-dwelling military families (including Reserve and National Guard). Pilot work and ongoing data collection as part of a randomized control trial suggest that FOCUS-EC is acceptable and feasible for military and veteran families with preschoolers.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge support from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for a randomized control trial of FOCUS-EC (R01-HD072324-01A1). They also acknowledge the strength, honor, commitment, and sacrifices made by military families on behalf of our country.

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  1. UCLA Nathanson Family Resilience Center, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, 760 Westwood Plaza, Room A8-153, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Catherine Mogil, Nastassia Hajal, Ediza Garcia, Cara Kiff, Blair Paley, Norweeta Milburn & Patricia Lester

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  1. Catherine Mogil
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  2. Nastassia Hajal
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  3. Ediza Garcia
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  4. Cara Kiff
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  5. Blair Paley
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  6. Norweeta Milburn
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  7. Patricia Lester
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Correspondence to Catherine Mogil.

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Mogil, C., Hajal, N., Garcia, E. et al. FOCUS for Early Childhood: A Virtual Home Visiting Program for Military Families with Young Children. Contemp Fam Ther 37, 199–208 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-015-9327-9

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