Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Scholarly Project

Degree Name

Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT)

First Advisor

Mandy Meyer

Keywords

Health Promotion; Military Personnel; Spouses

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to develop a program that addresses the needs of military wives and the challenges they experience due to having a spouse in the military. Through utilization of an occupational therapy perspective, this program focuses on the promotion of wellness and increased quality of life for military wives which in turn facilitates overall cohesion and support among military families.

Making the “Better Half” Even Better: A Support Program for Military Wives was influenced by the Person-Environment-Occupation-Performance Model due to the focus on an individual’s valued roles, tasks and activities along with their performance in those occupations, and the notion that person, environment and occupation interact dynamically and affect one another (Cole & Tufano, 2008). This program is designed to be disseminated directly to healthcare professionals and occupational therapists that work closely with military families. The goal of the program is to provide support, education and resources to military wives in order to promote their overall wellness and quality of life, which in turn, positively affects their families.

The resulting program is to be used by occupational therapists to promote the overall wellbeing of military wives through interventions such as education sessions on mental health both regarding themselves and their spouse, the deployment cycle, conflict resolution and communication skills, relationship development and maintenance, coping and stress management while also providing information on community resources and how to foster social support.

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