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Assessing the Needs of Soldiers and Their Families

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Assessing the Needs of Soldiers and Their Families Today’s Soldier Assessing the Needs of Soldiers and Their Families Carra S. Sims, Thomas E. Trail, Emily K. Chen, Laura L. Miller C O R P O R A T I O N For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/RR1893 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this publication. ISBN: 978-0-8330-9784-2 Published by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. © Copyright 2017 RAND Corporation R® is a registered trademark. Cover photos (clockwise): Staff Sgt. Tomora Nance, 3rd Calvalry Regiment Public Affairs Office/DVIDS; Sgt. Kalie Jones, U.S. Army/U.S. Department of Defense; Mr. Pak, Chin U./U.S. Army; Visual Information Specialist Jason Johnston, U.S. Army/DVIDS Limited Print and Electronic Distribution Rights This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions. The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. Support RAND Make a tax-deductible charitable contribution at www.rand.org/giving/contribute www.rand.org Preface This document reports results from a research project entitled, “Assessing the Needs of Soldiers and Their Families.” The purpose of the project was to identify the most- pressing problems that soldiers and their families face, the needs associated with those problems, and how soldiers use Army and non-Army resources to attempt to meet those needs. The results inform how the Army can best meet the most-pressing unmet needs, whether through its own support services or by fostering partnerships with communities and other non-Army organizations. This report documents the methods we used to develop a 2014 online survey of U.S. soldiers, along with the survey results. The findings should interest policymakers, program managers, and scholars interested in service members’ quality of life, their health and well-being, military families, service utilization, and military retention and readiness. This research was sponsored by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Instal- lations, Energy and Environment, and by the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management. It was conducted in RAND Arroyo Center’s Personnel, Training, and Health program. RAND Arroyo Center, part of the RAND Corporation, is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the United States Army. The Project Unique Identification Code (PUIC) for the project that produced this document is HQD136804. iii Contents Preface .................................................................................................iii Figures ................................................................................................ vii Tables ..................................................................................................ix Summary ..............................................................................................xi Acknowledgments ................................................................................. xix CHAPTER ONE Introduction .......................................................................................... 1 Study Objectives ...................................................................................... 2 Analytical Approach .................................................................................. 3 Organization of the Report .......................................................................... 5 CHAPTER TWO Survey Content and Method ....................................................................... 7 Survey Instrument .................................................................................... 7 Sampling of Participants ............................................................................ 22 Procedure for Administering the Survey .......................................................... 25 Response Rates and Number of Participants ..................................................... 26 Caveats to Consider .................................................................................. 27 CHAPTER THREE Survey Results ....................................................................................... 31 Respondent Characteristics ......................................................................... 31 Analysis Plan .......................................................................................... 33 Issues and Problem Domains ....................................................................... 35 Top Problem Areas ................................................................................... 47 Respondents’ Needs for Addressing Problems .................................................... 57 v vi Today’s Soldier: Assessing the Needs of Soldiers and Their Families CHAPTER FOUR Respondents’ Use of Resources to Address Needs ............................................ 65 Resource Utilization Among Survey Respondents .............................................. 65 Barriers to Accessing Resources .................................................................... 69 Satisfaction with Resources Used .................................................................. 72 CHAPTER FIVE Unmet Needs, Resource Information and Perceived Impact, and Interrelations Among Problems, Needs, Resources, and Attitudes..................................... 81 Unmet Needs ......................................................................................... 81 Best Ways to Get Information to Soldiers About Resources .................................... 83 Impact If Resources Were No Longer Available .................................................. 84 Relationship Between Problems, Needs, Resources, and Attitudes ............................ 93 Proof of Concept: The Survey Documented Important Information .......................... 98 CHAPTER SIX Conclusions and Recommendations ...........................................................101 Brief Caveats to Consider ..........................................................................101 Summary of Findings...............................................................................102 Implications of Study Findings ................................................................... 106 Where Additional Research and Analysis Are Needed .........................................112 APPENDIXES A. Survey Instrument ............................................................................. 115 B. Additional Information on the Sample ....................................................145 Abbreviations .......................................................................................149 References ........................................................................................... 151 Figures 1.1. Framework for Assessing the Needs of Soldiers and Their Families ............... 3 3.1. Number of Issues Selected Across Problem Domains .............................. 37 3.2. Number of Military Practices and Culture Issues Reported, by Pay-Grade Group .................................................................................... 38 3.3. Number of Work/Life Balance Issues Reported, by Pay-Grade Group .......... 39 3.4. Number of Work/Life Balance Issues Reported, by Family Status ............... 39 3.5. Number of Household Management Issues Reported, by Family Status ........ 40 3.6. Number of Financial or Legal Problems Reported, by Pay-Grade Group ....... 41 3.7. Number of Financial or Legal Problems Reported, by Family Status ............ 41 3.8. Number of Issues Related to Health Care System Problems Reported, by Family Status ............................................................................ 42 3.9. Number of Soldier’s Own Well-Being Issues Reported, by Pay-Grade Group .... 43 3.10. Number of Soldier’s Own Well-Being Issues Reported, by Family Status ....... 44 3.11. Number of Issues Related to Relationship Problems Reported, by Pay-Grade Group ....................................................................... 45 3.12. Number of Issues Related to Relationship Problems Reported, by Family Status ..................................................................................... 45 3.13. Percentage of Soldiers Who Chose Military Practices and Culture as a Top-Two Problem, by Pay-Grade Group ............................................. 49 3.14. Percentage of Soldiers Who Chose Military Practices and Culture as a Top-Two Problem, by Family Status ................................................. 49 3.15. Percentage of Soldiers Who Chose Work/Life Balance as a Top-Two Problem, by Pay-Grade Group ........................................................ 50 3.16. Percentage of Soldiers Who Chose Household Management as a Top-Two Problem, by Pay-Grade Group ........................................................ 51 3.17.
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