Other Titles
Rising Star Poster/Presentation
Abstract
Service members face a variety of challenges after deployment. The transition home can be difficult due to having to reestablish important relationships, losing intense bonds with battle buddies, and feeling misunderstood, especially after experiencing combat (Adler et al., 2011). The military-civilian divide can also make that transition difficult (Sayer et al., 2021). One of the moderating factors for reintegration is decompression, the process of returning to civilian life (Adler et al., 2011). While there is research about combat and Active-Duty deployments, there is limited information about the post-deployment reintegration experience for service members in the National Guard and Reserve components. These components have unique needs due to their civilian roles off-duty. One of the programs that's available to help accommodate those needs is the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program (YRRP). It provides resources about healthcare, education, employment, financial and legal benefits for these service members throughout the deployment process (Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, n.d.). As helpful as these resources may be, they're also limited. The purpose of this study is to examine the psychosocial needs of service members in the Arkansas Army National Guard (ARNG) post-deployment and explore the need for and feasibility of a community-based support group or decompression program to facilitate reintegration in Arkansas. This study will utilize a cross-sectional design. The subject population includes service members that served on the last deployment in 2-153 IN. A survey will be conducted online to collect data. This survey contains the Post-Deployment Reintegration Scale (Blais et al., 2009), demographic variables, and perceptions of the YRRP.
Notes
References: Adler, A. B., Zamorski, M., & Britt, T. W. (2011). The psychology of transition: Adapting to home after deployment. In A. B. Adler, P. D. Bliese, & C. A. Castro (Eds.), Deployment psychology: Evidence-based strategies to promote mental health in the military (pp. 153-174). American Psychological Association.
Blais, A-R., Thompson, M. M., & McCreary, D. R. (2009). The development and validation of the army post-deployment reintegration scale. Military Psychology, 21, 365–386.
Elnitsky, C. A., Fisher, M. P., & Blevins, C. L. (2017). Military service member and veteran reintegration: A conceptual analysis, unified definition, and key domains. Frontiers in Psychology, 8(369).
O’Neal, C. W., & Lavner, J. A. (2022). Latent profiles of postdeployment reintegration among service members and their partners. Journal of Family Psychology, 36(1), 35–45.
Sayer, N. A., Orazem, R. J., Mitchell, L. L., Carlson, K. F., Schnurr, P. P., & Litz, B. T. (2021). What the public should know about veterans returning from combat deployment to support reintegration: A qualitative analysis. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 91(3), 398–406.
Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program. (2017). Fiscal year 2017 annual report. https://www.yellowribbon.mil/cms/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/annualReport2017.pdf
Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program. (n.d.). About us. https://www.yellowribbon.mil/cms/about-us/
Sigma Membership
Kappa Rho
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
N/A
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Service Members, Transition Home, Military Civilian Transition, Psychosocial Needs
Recommended Citation
Robinson, Erin Michelle and Ashcraft, Pamela, "Assessing the Transition Home: A Study Exploring Post-Deployment Reintegration in the AR Army National Guard" (2025). Creating Healthy Work Environments (CHWE). 98.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/chwe/2025/presentations_2025/98
Conference Name
Creating Healthy Work Environments
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Conference Year
2025
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
Review Type
None: Event Material, Invited Presentation
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Assessing the Transition Home: A Study Exploring Post-Deployment Reintegration in the AR Army National Guard
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Service members face a variety of challenges after deployment. The transition home can be difficult due to having to reestablish important relationships, losing intense bonds with battle buddies, and feeling misunderstood, especially after experiencing combat (Adler et al., 2011). The military-civilian divide can also make that transition difficult (Sayer et al., 2021). One of the moderating factors for reintegration is decompression, the process of returning to civilian life (Adler et al., 2011). While there is research about combat and Active-Duty deployments, there is limited information about the post-deployment reintegration experience for service members in the National Guard and Reserve components. These components have unique needs due to their civilian roles off-duty. One of the programs that's available to help accommodate those needs is the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program (YRRP). It provides resources about healthcare, education, employment, financial and legal benefits for these service members throughout the deployment process (Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, n.d.). As helpful as these resources may be, they're also limited. The purpose of this study is to examine the psychosocial needs of service members in the Arkansas Army National Guard (ARNG) post-deployment and explore the need for and feasibility of a community-based support group or decompression program to facilitate reintegration in Arkansas. This study will utilize a cross-sectional design. The subject population includes service members that served on the last deployment in 2-153 IN. A survey will be conducted online to collect data. This survey contains the Post-Deployment Reintegration Scale (Blais et al., 2009), demographic variables, and perceptions of the YRRP.
Description
This poster presentation will cover an assessment of current psychosocial outcomes for service members in the Arkansas ARNG post-deployment. It will also discuss the need for and potential implementation of a community-based support group or decompression program.