Identifying the psychosocial determinants of psychological health and wellbeing of families of those who have served in the Armed forces in the 5-Eyes Alliance

Abstract: It is well established that military service can affect both Service personnel and their family members, and that these effects can be adverse (posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), physical injury, etc.) or positive (resilience, general wellbeing, etc.). While there has been extensive research into the psychological health and wellbeing of active-duty families, the body of research centring on the intimate partners and adult children of ex-Service members is far smaller, generally focused on PTSD/mental illness, and has traditionally drawn participants from a clinical or help-seeking population. The need is clear for research i) focusing on the veteran family (specifically intimate partners and adult children of veterans), ii) investigating the psychosocial determinants of psychological health and wellbeing, iii) featuring open recruitment for a more accurate picture of the veteran family across the 4 nations of the UK. The UK Veterans Family Study was designed to do just this, with the additional aims of cross-national comparisons, individual-level analyses, couple/family unit analyses through data-linkage, and a full exploration of the impact of social, community, and institutional support to identify both successful avenues of support and what support needs exist. The first aim of the UK Veterans Family Study was a scoping review of the existing literature in veteran family research to identify gaps in the research and to better inform the study scope. As preparation for this systematic review revealed very little UK based research on the veteran family, the research team expanded the scope of the review to include all countries covered by the United Kingdom - United States of America Agreement (UKUSA) intelligence treaty (the ‘5-Eyes Alliance’): United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This was done as these countries share a common language, a history of similar military involvement/deployment patterns, and similarities in society and culture. 

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