Thank you, members.
My name is Alla Skomorovsky. I have been a defence scientist in the Director General Military Personnel Research and Analysis at the Department of National Defence for 13 years now. Since 2009, I have been working as a researcher and a team leader for the military families research team. Specifically, my responsibilities include planning, conducting, and communicating social science research on the issues related to Canadian Armed Forces families.
The military family research team's program of research covers three primary domains: the health and well-being of Canadian Armed Forces families, which includes the well-being of spouses of CAF members and children from CAF families; programs and services available for CAF families, which includes evaluating the effectiveness of programs available for CAF families and their awareness of and satisfaction with those services; and, finally, the impact of occupational stressors faced by CAF members on their families in general, which includes CAF families' transitions to civilian life and their well-being and caring for ill and injured military members and their families.
In the remainder of this presentation, I will focus on the research program being developed under this third domain.
To date there has been little research that examined transition-related issues in military families from the perspective of the spouse/partner and from the military member and spouse/partner dyads. Therefore, a research program was developed in the Director General Military Personnel Research and Analysis that examined the impact of transition and illness and injury of Canadian Armed Forces members from the dual perspective: the member and the spouse or partner.
The first phase of this research program that I would like to highlight is the pilot study that we conducted in the fall of 2015. This study examined the key determinants in the well-being of CAF members and their families from both perspectives: the member and the spouse. We administered paper-and-pencil versions to CAF members and spouses who self-identified as ill or injured, and they were completed by 170 full CAF members and 69 spouses or partners.
The results showed that the members' illness or injury did in fact affect their own overall well-being and the well-being of spouses and had an impact on the relationship between the spouses. Spousal caregiver burden was also found to play a major role in the path between the members' health and well-being and the spousal health and well-being.
To follow up on the study, a second phase of this research program, this time an in-depth qualitative study, was conducted to examine the needs of families with an illness or injury going through transition to civilian life. This study had a particular focus on their use, awareness of, and satisfaction with various services and programs available to CAF families going through transition to civilian life. The study aims to examine both perspectives: once again, the medically releasing member or veteran and the family members, and this time including spouse or partner, parents, and, if applicable, siblings.
The qualitative study is in the data collection phase right now. Interviews are currently being conducted across Canada in various locations, including Ottawa, Halifax, Vancouver, Gagetown, Petawawa, Quebec City, and Edmonton. The interviews last about 60 minutes and are being conducted either in person or over the phone, based on the participant's choice. We developed separate moderator guides for the military member and the family member, given the focus of the questions. The participants have a choice of having an interview together or separately.
To date, we have conducted 41 interviews with medically releasing or already released CAF members, or veterans, as well as with 21 caregivers, largely spouses. We are expecting an additional 20 interviews with CAF members or veterans and 15 family members. They are already planned.
Although the study is still in progress, there are already several common themes that we've observed through collecting data. We are observing the impact of military members' illness and injury on their well-being and overall life satisfaction, and on the overall life satisfaction of their spouses or other family members. We also see that there are some issues in obtaining a civilian family doctor for military families and in terms of a lack of clarity with regard to the release process itself.
We believe that examining transition experiences of medically released members and their families in more detail will allow us to better understand the unique changes these families face in the transition process.
Ultimately, this research will place the Canadian Armed Forces in a better position to prepare military families for this important transition and help CAF, DND, and Veterans Affairs Canada, deliver its mandate to provide care and support to CAF members and veterans following the process and following their release from the military.
Thank you.