PURPOSE

BuildingResilienceinMilitaryChildrenandtheirFamilies   Ilija Karafiloski 

Geraldine V. Oades-Sese, Ph.D. 

Project C.O.M.B.A.T. (Children Overcoming Military Based Adversities Together) mission is to create materials that will be able to help teachers, nurses, psychologists, and social workers better support the needs of military families and their children. These include active duty, reserves, National Guard, and veterans.

Ø  I would like to thank my preceptor Dr. Geraldine V. Oades-Sese for allowing me to work with her on this amazing project.

Ø  I would also like to thank my internship coordinator, Kamila Pavezzi for her guidance and support.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

METHODOLOGY

SIGNIFICANCE

OUTCOMES

Background photo by Flickr user: https://www.flickr.com/photos/112081086@N07/

Ø  Approximately 43.2% of active duty members are 25 years old or younger, and nearly half have children.

Ø  There are about 1.2 million American school-aged military children with either one or both parents active in the forces.

Ø  Over 80% of military children attend civilian public schools.

Ø  Military children are different than civilian children because on average they will move 6-9 times through their K-12 grade education.

Ø  Frequent and unpredictable moves can interrupt children’s lives and spouse’s career.

Ø  Children who have a deployed military parent are at-risk for developing internalizing problems such as depression, anxiety, aggressive behaviors, academic and social problems.

Ø  Overall ratings of 131 participants regarding Project COMBAT materials were excellent.

Ø  Project COMBAT training workshops were rated excellent.

Ø  Participants rated their overall knowledge gained from the workshop as excellent.

Ø  Currently, we are evaluating the impact of the educational training workshops on participants’ pre- and post knowledge, professional practices, outreach to military families, and military child and family outcomes.

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Questions 1 - 12

Training Evaluation Mean Results

Participants: Ø  Participants consisted of 166 school

professionals (29.5% school counselors, 39.2% social workers/family advocates, 19.3% teachers,4.2% site supervisors, 4.2% administrators, 2.4% psychologists, .6% nurses and .6% department chairman) from Newark-based schools.

Measures: Ø  Post-Training Evaluation Form.

Statistical Analysis: Ø  Descriptive Statistics.