TSNRP Military Family Speaker Series Care of the Military Family Part II

This event qualifies for 1 CEUs

Topic 1: Theory, Intersectionality, and Gender-diverse Military Families: Answering the Call

Description: Maintaining a ready, lethal, military force capable of rapidly defending national interests, requires constant vigilance for threats to servicemembers’ health and well-being. Family issues are critical and may undermine individual servicemembers’ physical and mental readiness. The social milieu and diversity of military families has changed since the initial 1994 military family report. However, in the 2021 “Joining Forces” White House initiative, the health and readiness of military families remains a national priority.

Recent policy changes allow sex and gender diverse (SGD), lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer individuals to serve, marry, and have children, adding to the diversity of military families. While little is known about the actual numbers and healthcare needs of military SGD families, approximately 85,504 US servicemembers identify as SGD. Sex and gender diverse members are more likely to experience mental and physical health disparities, discrimination, stigma, access to care issues, and decreased social support. A recent military family scoping review included no SGD military family articles. One newer article cited a lack of appropriate support services for SGD military families. This dearth of research is compounded by a thin theoretical foundation for research and development of interventions for all military families. We propose a social ecological intersectionality model (SEM-IM) to inform heath and readiness-centered SGD military family research. Objectives: synthesizing appropriate literary evidence and describe a SEM-IM to inform health and readiness SGD military family research.

Topic 2: Prenatal Intervention Improved Pregnancy Outcomes at Three Military Installations

Description: Pregnancy specific anxiety and depressive symptoms are directly associated to adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes, such as low birthweight (LBW), and preterm birth (PTB). Early intervention to support mothers is critical in mitigating adverse outcomes. The Mentors Offering Maternal Support (M-O-M-S™) program, focuses on early peer support to decrease prenatal anxiety and depression.