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The Impact of Foreign Postings on Accompanying Military Spouses: an Ethnographic Study

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The Impact of Foreign Postings on Accompanying Military Spouses: an Ethnographic Study The impact of foreign postings on accompanying military spouses: an ethnographic study Blakely, G., Hennessy, C., Chung, M. C., & Skirton, H. (2014). The impact of foreign postings on accompanying military spouses: an ethnographic study. Health Psychology Research, 2(2), 73-77. https://doi.org/10.4081/hpr.2014.1468 Published in: Health Psychology Research Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Queen's University Belfast - Research Portal: Link to publication record in Queen's University Belfast Research Portal Publisher rights ©Copyright 2014 The Authors This is an open access Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction for non-commercial purposes, provided the author and source are cited. General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Queen's University Belfast Research Portal is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The Research Portal is Queen's institutional repository that provides access to Queen's research output. Every effort has been made to ensure that content in the Research Portal does not infringe any person's rights, or applicable UK laws. If you discover content in the Research Portal that you believe breaches copyright or violates any law, please contact [email protected]. Download date:30. Sep. 2021 Health Psychology Research 2014; volume 2:1468 The impact of foreign postings disruption of this familiar network in conjunc- tion with an international posting presents fur- Correspondence: Gillian Carter (nee Blakely), on accompanying military ther unique challenges to military spouses due School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's spouses: an ethnographic study to the supplementary stress of culture shock.6 University Belfast, Medical Biology Centre, 97 Additional financial strains, limited spousal Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT9 7BL, United Kingdom. Gillian Blakely,1 Catherine Hennessy,1 employment opportunities, extreme climate Tel.: +44.2890.975762. E-mail: [email protected] Man C. Chung,2 Heather Skirton1 and communication difficulties are recognized as key areas of stress.7-9 However, enhanced 1Faculty of Health, and Human Sciences, Key words: health professionals, international family unity, travel and new cultural experi- School of Nursing and Midwifery, relocation, overseas, spouses, wellbeing. ences are also cited as positive attributes of Plymouth University, UK; 2Department of relocation.9-11 Psychology, Natural Science and Public Contributions: GB, HS, CH and MCC, study Burrell et al. reported that the health and design; GB and CH, data collection and analysis; Health, Zayed University, Dubai, United wellbeing of individuals is affected by many GB, HS, CH and MCC, manuscript writing. Arab Emirates social situations,1 therefore it is reasonable to suggest that relocation to unfamiliar sur- Conflict of interests: the authors declare no roundings can have an impact on an individ- potential conflict of interests. ual’s health and lifestyle. In particular the per- Abstract ception of loss is identified as having a signif- Funding: this research was supported by a Faculty of Health, Education and Society PhD stipend icant impact on military spouses’ wellbeing.11 awarded to Gillian Blakely. As part of an ethnographic study, the impact The accumulation of psychological losses is 12 of foreign postings on spouses who accompany also noted by Makowsky et al. to intensify the Received for publication: 19 March 2013. military personnel was explored. Individual stress of relocation, specifically through the Revision received: 9 May 2013. interviews and focus groups with 34 British loss of cherished relationships, personal iden- Accepted for publication: 10 May 2013. military spouses based in one location in tity and autonomy, causing significant dis- southern Europe were conducted. Key findings tress.13 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons suggested that reaction to a foreign posting Research investigating the experiences of onlyAttribution NonCommercial 3.0 License (CC BY- was a reflection of personal attitudes, prior non-military spouses (e.g. diplomatic, clergy or NC 3.0). experiences, support, ability to adjust to corporate spouses), who are also accustomed ©Copyright G. Blakely et al., 2014 change and strength of relationship with the to frequent international relocations indicates Licensee PAGEPress, Italy serving spouse and community. For many the that a successful foreign posting isuse at least Health Psychology Research 2014; 2:1468 experience was positive due to the increased partly dependent on their ability to adjust.12,14 doi:10.4081/hpr.2014.1468 opportunity for family time, for others this Some individuals possess the necessary skills helped to compensate for the difficulties expe- to acclimatize to overseas locations because of rienced. Some military spouses experienced their previous experiences.9,11 However, the significant distress on the posting, particularly stoic response of other trailing spouses (a if the family was not well-supported. The phrase highlighted by Keenan,15 to represent Materials and Methods potential implications of military spouses not those who frequently relocate due to their hus- adapting to foreign postings have significant band or wife’s employment) is identified as The design was an ethnographic study uti- implications for healthcare practice. Provision potentially detrimental to their health.3,11 lizing qualitative methods and was conducted of more appropriate support resources before The authors of the present study conducted from the perspectives of the military spouses and during the posting would facilitate the a systematic review examining the experi- on an overseas posting, with the intention of transition for the military spouse and their ences of military spouses on a foreign providing a holistic interpretation of their family. posting.16 The findings indicated that research 17 investigating the specified topic was limited. experiences. The author GB was a military Of 13 relevant papers, only three were complet- spouse and had spent a lengthy period within ed in the last ten years with only Jervis’s work this environment, observing and participating Introduction Non-commercialrepresenting British military spouses. 1,9,11 in the daily lives of the British and Military Therefore, the present qualitative exploratory communities. Undertaking fieldwork enabled Geographical mobility can cause major study was undertaken to address this gap in the direct investigation of the experiences of upheavals in the lives of military families and the literature with a view to explore ways to the military spouse in context. As a participant relocations to foreign postings have been iden- maximize spousal health and wellbeing. The observer GB’s presence as a researcher was tified as imposing a significant strain on the aim of the study was to investigate the experi- overt and as a military spouse was also an family, especially the military spouse.1,2 Whilst ence of the accompanying spouses of British active member of the group. Therefore, recog- these spouses are recognized for their endur- military personnel relocated to a foreign coun- nizing and accounting for these roles was cru- ing ability to cope with extended periods of try. The main research questions included: i) cial to the research. separation due to their serving spouses being What is the emotional, social and psychological Ethnographic data collection consisted of posted away from home, there appears to be impact on spouses of British military person- semi-structured individual interviews and less understanding of the impact of relocation nel when relocated to a foreign country? ii) focus groups, in conjunction with researcher’s on military families when posted together to What methods are employed by the spouses to field notes relating to these interviews and overseas locations.1,3 One effect of frequent adjust to a new environment? iii) What types groups. The same schedule of open ended relocations is the interruption to established of emotional and social support are desired or questions designed to explore the participants’ support networks,4 which normally contribute used by spouses when living in a foreign com- understanding of experiencing an overseas to the wellbeing of spouses and their families munity? posting was used for interviews and focus through providing appropriate resources.5 The groups. These questions were developed from [Health Psychology Research 2014; 2:1468] [page 73] Article the themes identified in the systematic been reached i.e. when there was a repetition dents, combined with previous experiences. review,16 and from informal conversations and of themes and no new information was Those respondents with prior experience of discussions with other military spouses prior shared.19,20 Data were collected between July relocation and adjustment believed that they to the commencement of the data collection and October 2010. The focus groups and inter- were more amenable to military postings. (none of these data were used without con- views were digitally recorded and transcribed Furthermore, this made some respondents sent). These questions reviewed: i) the initial verbatim. Data were analyzed using thematic quite philosophical about their posting, …
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