Chandra Anita, Lara-Cinisomo Sandraluz, Burns Rachel M, Griffin Beth Ann
Rand Health Q. 2012 Sep 1;2(3):11. eCollection 2012 Fall.
Parental military deployments pose a host of challenges for child and family well-being. Military family support programs have proliferated since the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq a decade ago to address these emotional, social, and academic issues, but there has been little evaluation of whether these programs are meeting their key objectives. To help fill this gap, a RAND study team explored the curriculum, themes, and outcomes of Operation Purple, a free weeklong summer camp program for youth with a deployed parent. Using a quasi-experimental approach, the study incorporated youth and parent survey data (from both camp attendees and a control group of non-attendees) and camp after-action reports and visitor observation logs to determine whether there were differences between attendees and non-attendees in the four camp theme areas: comfort and skill in communicating about feelings, understanding and appreciation of military life, sense of service/stewardship, and outdoor education. The study also sought to determine how and to what extent the program's curriculum was implemented by participating camps in the summer of 2011. Despite limitations in the data (e.g., a non-random study sample, some variation in curriculum implementation across camps), the study found some positive effects from camp participation, particularly in communicating about feelings, as well as valuable youth and parent perspectives about camp, reflected in responses to open-ended questions. As such, it helps lay the groundwork for future investigation of similar support programs for military youth and their families.
父母一方的军事部署给儿童及其家庭的幸福带来了诸多挑战。自十年前阿富汗和伊拉克战争爆发以来，军事家庭支持项目激增，以解决这些情感、社会和学业问题，但对于这些项目是否实现其关键目标，几乎没有进行评估。为了填补这一空白，兰德公司的一个研究团队探讨了“紫色行动”的课程、主题和成果。“紫色行动”是一项为期一周的免费夏令营项目，面向父母一方正在服役的青少年。该研究采用准实验方法，纳入了青少年和家长的调查数据（来自夏令营参与者和非参与者对照组）以及夏令营行动后报告和访客观察记录，以确定参与者和非参与者在四个夏令营主题领域是否存在差异：表达情感的舒适度和技巧、对军事生活的理解和欣赏、服务/管理意识以及户外教育。该研究还试图确定2011年夏季参与夏令营的营地如何以及在多大程度上实施了该项目的课程。尽管数据存在局限性（例如，研究样本非随机，各营地课程实施存在一些差异），但研究发现参与夏令营有一些积极影响，尤其是在表达情感方面，同时在对开放式问题的回答中也反映出了青少年和家长对夏令营的宝贵看法。因此，它为未来对军事青少年及其家庭的类似支持项目的调查奠定了基础。
