Addressing the Needs of Children and Families of Combat Injured

PUBLIC ABSTRACT

The proposed project, titled "Addressing the Needs of Children and Families of Combat Injured," is designed to assess the post-traumatic impact of combat injury on children and families of 40 identified combat injured service members hospitalized at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio, TX and Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) in Washington, DC. WRAMC and BAMC each hospitalize an average of 40 to 50 seriously combat-injured service members each month. Approximately 25% of patients have families with children, suggesting adequate study enrollment during the proposed 48-month period. BAMC and WRAMC professional collaborators serve as co-investigators on this proposal and will participate in its implementation.

Investigators from the Uniformed Services University Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (USU CSTS) and the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress (NCCTS) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) are uniquely qualified to execute this program. USU CSTS possesses exceptional expertise in military family trauma intervention strategies. CSTS serves as the academic center of gravity for trauma-related programs in its active collaboration with Department of Defense clinical and research organizations, the National Center for PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Through research, publications, and ongoing academic collaborations, it has developed a sustained and unique subject matter expertise regarding the trauma of war on military service members, their families and children, war-related PTSD, as well as military community resilience and recovery. The NCCTS investigators have substantial experience in child traumatic stress assessment and intervention and in the implementation and evaluation of family-focused trauma interventions.

In this preliminary investigation, post-traumatic combat injury impact will be evaluated in five major clinical categories of child and family function: (1) acute child and parent traumatic stress symptoms; (2) levels of parental efficacy (e.g., emotional availability, disciplinary style); (3) parent-child communication; (4) alterations to family schedule and structure; and (5) long-term impact of injury on child, parent, and family function.