The impact of multiple deployments on military spouses

This mixed method, exploratory, retrospective study explores the impact of multiple deployments on military spouses. Previous studies have focused on single deployments while looking at stress, coping styles and stages of deployment. This study is exploring the afore mentioned topics with the stipulation that the spouse has to have experienced at least two deployments. Eighty spouses from all branches of the military, except the Coast Guard, participated in this study. The spouses completed an online survey where they were asked multiple choice, scaling and open-ended questions comparing the first and second/subsequent deployments. The questions were designed to learn more about the stages of deployment, emotions felt during each stage of deployment, and coping strategies used during deployments. Findings of this study were consistent with earlier studies that focused on single deployments. Spouses reported that there was no change in the perception of the difficulty of deployments whether the spouse had deployed once or multiple times, spouses found the second or subsequent deployment as difficult as the first. Spouses reported that the stage of the actual deployment was the most difficult, and that the spouses felt stress through all stages of deployment. The spouses stated that keeping busy was the main coping strategy used to help them through the deployments. Finally, spouses stated that no matter how many deployments they had experienced, it doesn\u27t get easier