Professional School Counselors' Perspectives on the Effects of Military Parental Deployment on School Aged Children and Adolescents
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2011 Professional School Counselors' Perspectives On The Effects Of Military Parental Deployment On School Aged Children And Adolescents Cheryl G. McCloud University of Central Florida Part of the Education Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation McCloud, Cheryl G., "Professional School Counselors' Perspectives On The Effects Of Military Parental Deployment On School Aged Children And Adolescents" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 1868. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/1868 PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL COUNSELORS‘ PERSPECTIVES ON THE EFFECTS OF MILITARY PARENTAL DEPLOYMENT ON SCHOOL AGED CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS by CHERYL G. MCCLOUD B.A. San Diego State University, 1989 M.S. San Diego State University, 1993 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Education at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2011 Major Professor: E.H. (Mike) Robinson ABSTRACT This qualitative study used an exploratory phenomenological approach to examine professional school counselors‘ perspectives on the effects of military parental deployment on school aged children and adolescents. The voices of school counselors who work with military connected children are absent from the literature. The research site was a professional counseling conference in Germany in the fall of 2010. Participants consisted of 12 professional school counselors who work with school-aged children and adolescents who have experienced parental military deployment. Participants adopted pseudonyms though several indicated an affiliation with Department of Defense Dependent Schools (DODDS) and therefore offered their unique perspectives as school counselors living in military communities and working almost exclusively with military connected children and families. Data collection consisted of individual interviews with counselor participants. Data analysis consisted of coding meaningful words and phrases and yielded 33 preliminary categories that became new codes. Analysis of relationships between codes resulted in the emergence of four distinct themes: Military Life, Stages of Deployment, Role of the Counselor, and Children and Adolescents. Themes were supported by quotations of meaningful statements, thus participant voices provide thick, rich descriptions of the phenomenon. Validity strategies included peer debriefing, researcher positionality, and multiple examinations of the data set. ii I dedicate this study to all military service members and their families on the front lines and elsewhere. I dedicate this study to the school counselors on the front lines on behalf of military children. I dedicate this study to my grandmother, Mrs. Mary Pinckney, and my parents, Frank and Barbara McCloud for always encouraging me to study my lessons and get an education. Thank you for everything! iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank God for giving me the strength to continue. My simple prayer of ―God Help Me‖ was spoken hundreds of times throughout this process, so I know He held me up! I offer my most sincere thanks and appreciation to my major advisor, Dr. Mike Robinson and to Dr. Andrew Daire, Dr. Bryce Hagedorn, and Dr. Carolyn Walker Hopp for being the most patient and supportive committee ever! You all believed in me when I did not believe in myself and you gave me 100% support, encouragement, and inspiration. I am grateful for the guidance of Dr. Monifa G. Beverly who introduced me to qualitative research and walked me through the process. I thank my UCF corhort The Phoenix Suns. Tiphanie, David, Heather, Jackie, Jen, Monica and Tracy provided friendship, encouragement, support, challenge and inspiration. Thank you to Dr. Jennifer Platt for my opportunity to participate as a Holmes Scholar and gain exposure to professionals who look like me. Thank you for the mentoring. I plan to pay it forward. Thank you to Enrique, Sheena, Bob, Susan and the Morgridge International Reading Center and UCF Book Festival for your support and collaboration. Thanks to Erica and Leah for all the paperwork! Thank you Adrienne, Missy, David, Tiphanie, Tracy, Nivishi, Bob and Kevin for talking me through. Thank you soo soo much to my family! Rawn, Adrienne, Frankie, Gerald, Keena, Raven,Taylor, Sammy, Torrie, Gerald, and Cameron for your daily support and encouragement. Much like an award ceremony, the naming of names invariably results in the omission of key persons and forgetting to thank someone. Sorry, but I say thank you to everyone who supported and encouraged me through this process. Especially those who let me cry on your shoulders! Friends, family, teachers, classmates, lovers, haters- I appreciate you all and thank you very much! XXCGM iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................................ 3 Overview of Research Design ..................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE ................................................................................... 9 Persian Gulf War ......................................................................................................................... 9 Parameters of Literature Review ................................................................................................. 9 Military Culture ......................................................................................................................... 11 War and Deployment on Families ............................................................................................. 12 Parental Absence ....................................................................................................................... 13 War, Deployment and Children ................................................................................................ 15 Academic and Behavioral Outcomes ........................................................................................ 18 Caregiver Mental Health ........................................................................................................... 21 Risk of Maltreatment and Use of Medical Services .................................................................. 24 Stages of Deployment and Reintegration .................................................................................. 28 School Children ......................................................................................................................... 32 School Counselors ..................................................................................................................... 32 School Counselors, Deployment and Children ......................................................................... 35 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 41 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 41 Researcher Positionality ............................................................................................................ 41 Research Design ........................................................................................................................ 43 Purpose of the Study and Research Question ........................................................................... 45 Procedures ................................................................................................................................. 46 Population.................................................................................................................................. 48 Participant Snapshots ................................................................................................................ 51 Interview Protocol ..................................................................................................................... 57 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 60 ATLAS.ti ................................................................................................................................... 62 Validity Strategies ..................................................................................................................... 64 v Member Checking ..................................................................................................................... 64 Researcher Reflexivity .............................................................................................................. 64 Peer-Debriefing ........................................................................................................................