Service Member to Civilian: Transitions, Mental Health, Families and Education

研究人员，政策制定者和联邦机构一直缓慢地接受在多个国家的世界范围内的冲突的现实，看不到尽头，以及对服务人员，退伍军人及其家人的影响。将于2014年和2015年举行的服务成员到平民会议将研究我们国家的服务成员如何从军事的所有分支过渡到平民生活，以及我们如何通过转化科学和服务来改善这种过渡。现役军人的生活经历了许多环境变化，往往有多个周期的部署和与家人和子女、社区、雇主和学校团聚/重返社会。军事生活的过渡是困难的，并因精神和身体创伤而加剧。由于44%的现役军人是父母，这些转变对家庭和儿童产生了巨大的影响。会议的目标是：1）建立研究联盟，包括现役军人，退伍军人，预备役军人，军人和退伍军人相关的家庭和儿童，研究人员，从业人员和社区决策者; 2）目前的研究和最佳实践干预措施，将在战略上更适应军事人员和家庭过渡到平民文化; 3）审查退伍军人和高等教育机构面临的挑战，他们从兵役分离后入学; 4）让雇主参与批判性对话，以弥合一些雇主在情感/心理稳定性和可转移的经验技能。拟议的服务成员到平民会议是第一个全国性的跨学科会议，重点是翻译研究，以更好地理解和改善从军事服务到平民生活的过渡， 这种过渡对服务成员/退伍军人及其家庭和子女的影响。会议包括四个主题-高等教育，家庭和儿童，社区和雇主在过渡中的作用-互动。这些主题共同反映了会议的目标和目的，以建立一个研究联盟，目前的研究，发展多学科的未来研究人员，利用目前的研究，以阐明关键的 问题，确定与武装部队人口结构变化相关的研究需求，并建立一支新的专业人员队伍，包括目前的研究生，实习生和学院中代表性不足的各种研究人员。会议小组报告的结果和与会者通过协作会议提出的建议将被制定为转化研究议程，以推动理解领域并改善服务成员和退伍军人的重返社会。最后，委员会成员致力于通过参与将在会议上成立的翻译联盟并继续担任2015年会议的指导委员会成员来保持对这一关键问题的关注。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Researchers, policy makers and federal agencies have been slow in coming to terms with the realities of being in a worldwide conflict in multiple countries with no end in sight and the impact that has on service members, veterans and their families. The Service Member to Civilian conference, to be held in 2014 and 2015, will examine how our nation's service members from all branches of the military transition to civilian life and how we can improve that transition through translational science and service. Active duty service members experience a life of numerous changes in circumstance, with often multiple cycles of deployment and reunion/reintegration with their families and children, communities and employers and schools. The transitions of military life are difficult and exacerbated by mental and physical trauma. Since 44% of active duty service members are parents, these transitions have an enormous impact on families and children. The conference objectives are: 1) Build research consortia that include active duty service members, veterans, reservists, military and veteran-connected families and children, researchers, practitioners and community decision makers; 2) Present current research and best practice interventions that will be strategically more responsive to military personnel and families transitioned to civilian culture; 3) Examine the challenges facing both veterans and the institutions of higher education where they enroll upon separation from military service; and 4) Involve employers in critical dialogue to bridge the gap of misunderstanding that some employers have in regard to the emotional/mental stability and transferable experiential skills of veterans. The proposed Service Member to Civilian conference is the first national, interdisciplinary conference that focuses on translational research to better understand and improve the transition from military service to civilian life and the impact of that transition on the service member/veteran and their families and children. The conference incorporates four themes - the roles of higher education, families and children, communities, and employers in the transition - interactively. These themes collectively reflect the objectives and aims of the conference to build a research consortium, present current research, develop multidisciplinary future researchers, use current research to illuminate critical issues, identify research needs relevant to demographic shifts in the Armed Forces, and build a cadre of new professionals inclusive of current graduate students, interns, and diverse researchers underrepresented in the academy. Findings from the conference panel presentations and recommendations from participants via collaborative sessions will be developed in to a translational research agenda to move the field of understanding and improve service member and veteran reintegration. Finally, the committee members are committed to sustaining the focus on this key issue through their participation in the translational consortia that will be formed from the conference and continuing as steering committee members for the 2015 conference.