GAO

United States General Accounting Office

Report to the Honorable

George R. Nethercutt, Jr., House of 

Representatives

March 2001 MILITARY 

PERSONNEL

Actions Needed to 

Achieve Greater 

Results From Air 

Force Family Need 

Assessments

GAO-01-80

Page 1 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

Contents

Letter 3

Appendixes Appendix I: Army, Navy, and Marine Corps Military Family Need 

Assessment Processes 26

Appendix II: Needs Assessment Literature 28

Appendix III: Recent Military Family and Personnel Support 

Programs and Initiatives 30

Appendix IV: Results of Some Air Force Needs Assessments

(2000) 33

Appendix V: Comments From the Department of Defense 37

Appendix VI: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments 47
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United States General Accounting Office

Washington, D.C. 20548

Leter

March 8, 2001

The Honorable George R. Nethercutt, Jr.

House of Representatives

Dear Mr. Nethercutt:

The proportion of military personnel with spouses and children has risen 

dramatically since the military eliminated the draft and established an 

all-volunteer force. For example, 60 percent of Gulf War veterans versus 

16 percent of Vietnam veterans were married with children during their 

service in these conflicts. The demands and stress of military life include 

frequent time away from family, recurrent moves that can disrupt family 

and social support networks, and the threat of family members’ death or 

injury due to military service.

To meet the needs of military families so that they can adapt and function 

effectively in these circumstances, the Department of Defense (DOD) 

funds a wide variety of personnel and family support programs. These 

programs use a combination of direct assistance and information and 

referral to help with crises, deployments, moves, child care, personal 

financial management, parenting, and transition out of the service. In fiscal 

year 2000, $739 million was appropriated for such family support programs.

So that funds are efficiently distributed to those with the greatest need, 

DOD requires each service to assess the needs of military personnel and 

their families and their use of family support programs. In response to your 

request for information on the needs of military families, and as agreed 

with your office, this report focuses on the Air Force’s family needs 

assessment process. Specifically, we determined (1) how the Air Force 

determines the needs of its military families, (2) what type of information 

about military family needs the Air Force obtains, and (3) how information 

from needs assessments affects the allocation of funding for Air Force 

family support programs. 

In evaluating the Air Force’s needs assessment process, we used criteria 

identified by research literature and experts as important in conducting 

need assessments that are used for program planning and resource 

decisions. These include the use of (1) a random sample survey to assess 

needs from the perspectives of servicemembers and their families; 
Page 4 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

(2) benchmarks to define when needs have increased, decreased, or 

emerged; (3) a framework to interpret the meaning of needs assessment 

results; (4) a strategy to determine which needs will receive priority for 

funding; and (5) information on the type and capacity of off base 

community and family support services. 

Results in Brief The Air Force has conducted assessments of its personnel’s needs for 

family programs, as required by DOD regulations, every 2 years since 1993. 

It bases its assessments on a random sample survey distributed to active 

duty personnel and civilian spouses and has established a means of 

interpreting the results of the survey. However, this Air Force process does 

not meet other criteria generally recognized as important for needs 

assessments, including the use of benchmarks to determine whether needs 

have changed or emerged, a strategy to determine which needs will receive 

priority for funding, and information on the type and capacity of off base, 

or civilian, community and family support services. Neither the DOD nor 

Air Force family need assessment regulations include these criteria. The 

value and accuracy of the Air Force’s needs assessments for designing, 

planning, continuing, expanding, or terminating family support programs, 

as required by DOD regulation, may consequently be diminished. 

The Air Force’s assessments cover needs related to deployments and 

mobility, family advocacy (i.e., domestic violence treatment and 

prevention), family life education, child care, parenting education, family 

members’ employment, transitions and relocations, personal financial 

management, and dependents with special needs. Although DOD’s 

guidance indicates that military families generally have needs in these 

areas, its regulations do not require that any particular issues or aspects of 

military family life be measured in needs assessments, and no single source 

conclusively demonstrates or defines the needs of military families. Data 

from the Air Force-wide 2000 needs assessment indicate that needs for 

support related to deployments and separations are far more commonly 

reported than needs associated with other family support. For example, 

more than 50 percent of both active duty members and spouses surveyed 

said that they needed to be able to make “morale” telephone calls during 

deployments and separations.1

1 “Morale” telephone calls are placed to the deployed spouse or parent, without charge, with 

the help of a military operator.
Page 5 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

Although the Air Force has used needs assessment data to change family 

program policies and to conduct program planning and some training, it 

has inconsistently used the results to budget for family programs. DOD 

regulation states that such results should serve as the basis for the design, 

planning, continuation, expansion, or termination of family support 

services. On one hand, an Air Force child care program used data from the 

needs assessment to determine which of its bases had priority for a portion 

of $1 million for a new initiative to provide extended day care services. On 

the other hand, Air Force representatives for the family advocacy and 

family support center programs said that needs assessment data is not 

typically connected to family program funding decisions. Rather, family 

advocacy budgets are based on the number of people in the area that they 

expect to serve and an indicator of how long it takes to review domestic 

violence cases. 

In light of DOD policy, we are recommending that the Secretary of Defense 

direct the Secretary of the Air Force to use criteria we have cited in this 

report in conducting family needs assessments and to use the results of the 

needs assessment process to budget for family support programs. To 

ensure that all the services conduct assessments that are useful for 

designing, planning, expanding, continuing, or terminating family support 

programs, we are also recommending that the Secretary of Defense include 

the criteria we have cited in its military family need assessment regulations 

and guidance. 

Background Twelve years after the end of the military draft, Congress passed the 

Military Family Act of 1985 (Title VIII of the Department of Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1986, Public Law 99-145). The law 

established an Office of Family Policy in the Office of the Secretary of 

Defense to coordinate programs and activities of the military departments 

relating to military families. The law also gives DOD authority to make 

recommendations to the secretaries of the military departments with 

respect to programs and policies regarding military families.2

Since the passage of the act, increasing numbers of federal programs, 

contracts, laws, and regulations have been directed at providing and 

2

 The Military Family Act of 1985 was revised in 1996 (section 568 of the National Defense 

Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996, Public Law 104-106, as amended). The revision did 

not affect the described provisions pertaining to the Office of Family Policy.
Page 6 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

enforcing support for military family members. In fiscal year 2000, 

Congress appropriated $739 million for DOD’s family programs then under 

the jurisdiction of DOD’s Office of Family Policy. These funds provide 

extensive information and referral services, counseling services, financial 

management education, spouse employment assistance, domestic violence 

treatment and prevention, and child care, among other services. These 

funds also support 260 family support centers that serve as focal points for 

the delivery of military family services in the United States and overseas.3

Nearly 10 years ago, in conjunction with the buildup of DOD’s family 

support programs, DOD instructed each service to conduct servicewide 

needs assessments and to use the results as the basis for designing, 

planning, continuing, expanding, or terminating programs. In a 1999 update 

to this instruction, DOD reemphasized the need to validate military 

families’ needs in relation to programs and services to support their

well-being. 

In the last few years alone, several new personnel and family support 

programs and related initiatives have been implemented or are under 

consideration by DOD or specific services, including the New Parent 

Support Program, the Healthy Parenting Initiative, the Combat Stress 

Control program, and increases in counselors in DOD schools (see

app. III). In addition, active duty military and family quality of life issues 

have recently been topics of deliberation and study among DOD 

decisionmakers. For example:

• In May and June 2000, DOD sponsored two separate forums where, 

respectively, selected military personnel and family members and a 

group of senior enlisted military personnel were invited to the Pentagon 

to express their views on a range of military quality of life issues, 

including housing, health care, military readiness, youth services and 

programs, and general family support. 

• In August 2000, DOD sponsored a family readiness conference at which 

the goal was to teach strategies for creating self-sustaining communities 

that provide effective family support in day-to-day living and in times of 

demanding rates of military activity and crises. 

3

 Due to reorganization, DOD’s Office of Family Policy has jurisdiction over different 

programs than it did in fiscal year 2000. Currently, the office has jurisdiction over family 

support centers, spouse employment programs, relocation assistance programs, personal 

financial management programs, casualty and mortuary services, volunteer programs, 

adoption reimbursement, elder care, and family care plans.
Page 7 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

• In its 2000 report to the President and Congress, DOD reports that its 

Quality of Life Executive Committee plans to expressly develop a needs 

assessment instrument to determine the needs of the top 20 high-tempo 

units and military specialties.4

• In October 2000, the Secretary of Defense launched a Military Quality of 

Life Summit to bring together corporate executives and senior defense 

officials to improve servicemembers’ quality of life. A top priority of this 

partnership is to create job opportunities for military spouses and 

servicemembers leaving military service.

Providing the right type and amount of support for military family members 

is not a simple undertaking. Military family members outnumber total 

uniformed active duty personnel. Of the total number of active duty 

personnel and their family members, spouses, children, and adult 

“dependents” are about 60 percent (about 2 million), while 40 percent 

(about 1.3 million) are married and single active duty uniformed personnel. 

The active duty force is largely comprised of young people who are 

managing major personal responsibilities (i.e., marriage and children) and 

the demands of military service, which include frequent family separations; 

recurrent moves to new locations; and life in a culture that sets high 

expectations for personal responsibility, family responsibility, discipline, 

and performance. In 1999, 80 percent of the total force was younger than 

35, 55 percent of the force was married, 48 percent of military spouses were 

30 or younger, and 47 percent of all military members had children.

The Air Force 

Assessment Process 

Incorporates Some Key 

Elements but Not 

Others

DOD regulations require that the services conduct a family needs 

assessment survey and use the results for designing, planning, continuing, 

expanding, or terminating family support programs. The regulations do not 

require the services to use specific criteria or to use a specific process, 

method, timeline, or reporting format for needs assessments, and each 

service implements the regulations differently. The Air Force has 

conducted the required needs assessments by obtaining views from a 

random sample of active duty servicemembers and civilian spouses. Most 

recently, the Air Force offices with administrative responsibility for child 

care and youth programs, family advocacy programs, and family support 

center programs have contributed to the development of the 

4

 In 1995, the Secretary of Defense established the Quality of Life Executive Committee, 

comprising senior DOD officials and military leaders, to serve as his principal policy adviser 

on quality of life issues.
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Air Force-wide needs assessment. The Air Force has established six 

measures that it applies to the results of its need assessment surveys to 

help determine and assess family needs. These measures represent shortand long-term goals that the Air Force has established for its family and 

community support programs, and they provide the framework for 

interpreting and assessing the results of the needs assessment survey. 

However, the assessment process does not include other elements 

recognized in research literature and by experts as important in conducting 

assessments that are used for program planning and resource decisions. 

The Air Force’s Needs 

Assessment Process Is Set 

in a Results Management 

Framework

The Air Force’s establishment of short- and long-term measures for its 

family support programs is consistent with practices we have identified as 

useful in developing performance plans required in the Government 

Performance and Results Act.5

 The three short-term measures are:

• Informal Community Connections: what kind of informal networks and 

resources (e.g. friends, spouses, coworkers, and neighbors) 

servicemembers and their family members use, if any, for personal or 

family problems and how supportive these connections are.

• Leadership Support: how supportive various leaders (e.g., unit and wing 

leaders and base commanders) are in the lives of the servicemembers 

and their families.

• Interagency Collaboration: whether officials from the various base 

family support programs work collaboratively to support families and 

collaborate with off base community service providers.

The three long-term measures are:

• Personnel Preparedness: whether servicemembers plan to stay in the 

military, what their concerns and problems are, how servicemembers 

and their families are functioning, and how successful servicemembers 

are at managing work and family responsibilities.

5

 As we reported in Agency Performance Plans: Examples of Practices Than Can Improve 

Usefulness to Decisionmakers (GAO/GGD/AIMD-99-69, Feb. 1999), an agency may not see 

results of its programs for years; thus, intermediate goals and measures can provide 

information on interim results and can be used to show progress or a contribution to 

intended results.
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• Family Adaptation: how well families have adapted to the Air Force way 

of life, including how well they work together to solve problems; what 

the degree of family conflict is; what parents’ concerns about their 

children are; and whether and where families seek help when they have 

problems.

• Sense of Community: whether servicemembers and their families are 

satisfied with the Air Force as a way of life, whether they perceive a 

positive sense of community on the base, and whether they use support 

services.

During on-site training led by contractors and Air Force family support 

officials, family support program staff at each Air Force base 

collaboratively review and interpret need assessment results using the six 

measures to help determine whether program goals are being met and to 

develop an appropriate action plan. This all-day training allows the 

professional staff from the base family support program offices and key 

military personnel to interact and discuss their views on the meaning and 

significance of the need assessment results. In addition, base program staff 

acquire skills and knowledge on how to use the needs assessment data to 

develop community action plans. Family support professional staff who 

have participated in this training believe that the needs assessment data 

provide them with a concrete tool to validate adjustments and 

improvements in base services. They stated that base leaders who provide 

essential support for changes in programs and services attach a great deal 

of weight to the needs assessment data.

Assessment Does Not 

Include All Elements to 

Support Program Planning 

and Funding Allocation

The Air Force’s needs assessment process and DOD’s regulations, lack 

three elements that would support program planning and resource 

allocation. These elements are the use of benchmarks to determine 

whether needs have changed or emerged, a strategy to determine which 

needs will receive priority for funding, and information on the type and 

capacity of off base, or civilian, community and family support services. 

Using Benchmarks to Determine 

Needed Community Services

A primary purpose of need assessments is to identify services a community 

lacks relative to some generally accepted standard. Some private sector 

communities use such standards to assess community needs. For example, 

they compare local and statewide indicators of health (e.g., birth rate, teen 

pregnancy rate, and percent of uninsured adults); economic well-being 

(e.g., unemployment rate, per capita income, and poverty rate); and social 

welfare (e.g., percent of residents receiving Medicaid, food stamps, or 

other public assistance; rate of child abuse and neglect; and incidence of 
Page 10 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

child delinquency). By establishing measures of comparison, program 

administrators can more accurately determine how well their programs are 

doing and the needs of their clients. Without regular assessments of the 

needs of servicemembers and their families and the success of the 

programs in meeting these needs, the Air Force cannot maintain quality 

programs. 

In a 1990 inspection of DOD family centers, the DOD Inspector General 

criticized the Department for failing to compare yearly results of needs 

assessments to determine whether programs were still needed and how 

successful the programs had been. And during our review, Air Force family 

support program staff said that it was difficult to evaluate how negative or 

positive the results of their needs assessments were because they did not 

have a basis for comparison. In addition, they said that base leaders want to 

know how their base is doing relative to some standard (e.g., other similar 

Air Force bases or the previous year’s results). This information is key to 

base leaders when they review and evaluate budget requests for family 

support programs.

In reporting results to determine needs, the Air Force considers only the 

percent of the population that responded a certain way to an item in the 

needs assessment survey.6

 For example, members’ taking time off from 

work to solve family-related problems is an indicator of personnel 

readiness that comes from the needs assessment. The random sample 

survey done in 2000 indicates that 8 percent of the total active duty 

servicemembers had to take either scheduled or unscheduled time off from 

work to take care of youth behavioral problems. Without a measure of 

comparison, however, it is not possible to determine whether a need has 

surfaced or changed. Eight percent may be perceived as a small number 

that does not indicate a need and that action is therefore not required. 

However, a comparison of the 2000 survey to the prior year’s survey (1998) 

shows that the percent of active duty personnel who said they took 

unscheduled or scheduled time off from work to take care of youth 

behavioral problems increased from 3 to 8 percent, or more than 

6

 In the two prior need assessments (1995 and 1998), the Air Force reported changes over 

time on some need assessment results. For example, some 1995 results were compared to 

1993 results and 1998 results were compared to 1995 results. The 2000 servicewide need 

assessment reported no such comparisons. 
Page 11 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

160 percent.7 Viewing the results from the standpoint of prior year results—

one measure of comparison—may signal cause for attention.

Prioritizing Needs Based on 

Assessments 

Because funds for some family support programs are limited and can be 

redirected to other base activities, at the commander’s discretion, it is 

important for the Air Force to prioritize the results of the family needs 

assessment. The Air Force’s final report on its needs assessment includes 

needs associated with at least 65 family and community support programs 

or services and 14 child care-specific services, among other issues. The 

majority of these programs and services do not appear to be required by 

law and therefore would not have dedicated funding. Rather, non-mandated 

programs like these are funded through the base operations account, which 

also funds other operations on the base. Depending on the circumstances, 

the base commander may take funds that are budgeted for a family support 

program and use them elsewhere.8

A determination of priority may be based on the programs that 

servicemembers identify on the survey as most needed. It also may be 

based on legal mandates (i.e., programs that are required by law) or overall 

organization or strategic goals. In a military environment, if the Air Force 

were to prioritize programs based on organizational goals, it would look for 

the needs assessment results that directly link to military readiness. For 

example, direct implications for readiness are personal or family problems 

that require time off from work, problems in meeting family 

responsibilities, the need for assistance during deployments and 

unaccompanied tours, and risks that servicemembers may be placed in 

nondeployable status, because of family matters.9

7

 The 1998 and 2000 servicewide need assessments had the same margin of error.

8

 As we reported in Defense Budget: Real Property Maintenance and Base Operations Fund 

Movements (GAO/T-NSIAD-00-101, Mar. 1, 2000), the services have considerable flexibility 

in using operations and maintenance funds (which includes the base operations account), 

and they move funds in and out of base operations accounts for different priorities. Base 

operations funding is used for services such as utilities, base communications, snow 

removal, security, and recreation.

9

 Annually, DOD is required to report information concerning permanent and temporary 

limitations on the deployability of servicemembers. DOD has defined a category of family 

matters that can result in a servicemember being classified as temporarily nondeployable, 

including adoption, humanitarian deferment issues, physical/mental handicap of family 

member, problems with a family care plan, domestic violence issues, financial stability, and 

other unspecified family issues.
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Determining Off Base Resources 

for Family Support 

During its need assessment process, the Air Force does not factor in what 

civilian community support resources are available, but its survey does ask 

respondents whether they received support on or off base. DOD 

regulations do not explicitly require the services to assess and factor 

civilian resources in, but they do require the services to provide family 

support programs only to the extent that local area services are not 

available, accessible, affordable, or appropriate to meet the needs of 

military families. During our review, DOD family support program officials 

said that it is important to link military families with community resources 

to meet their needs, if possible. Moreover, private sector family support 

organizations advocate the use of surveys to determine the capacity of the 

agencies and social service providers in local communities. Unless the Air 

Force determines what support services are available in the civilian 

community, how many people they can accommodate, and how they are 

used, its base family support staff cannot know whether they are 

duplicating services, underusing or overwhelming their own programs, or 

concentrating funds on the right programs. 

Nonprofit organizations such as the United Way and the Young Men’s 

Christian Association (YMCA) provide assistance to families in civilian 

communities. About 1,400 United Way organizations finance youth 

development and recreation, parent support and education, and early 

childhood development services, among other things. The Armed Services 

YMCA, with 24 branches servicing the 50 states, provides a range of 

services to improve the quality of life for military personnel and their 

spouses and children. For example, the Armed Services YMCA in Norfolk, 

Virginia, provides services specifically targeted to junior enlisted personnel 

for social, recreational, personal, and child development; crisis prevention; 

and deployment separation. 

Because at least more than 50 percent of Air Force personnel live in the 

civilian communities outside of Air Force bases, knowledge of available 

family support services would be valuable. Data from the 2000 Air Force 

needs assessment indicates that military family members use off base 

support services. For example, in 26 of 28 areas of concern related to 

children (e.g., abuse by a family member, adjusting to new schools, and 

divorce of parents), more civilian military spouses said they sought help off 

base.

Military families may seek support from civilian community services 

because they are more conveniently located. However, according to active 

duty personnel and civilian spouses, a leading reason for not using base 
Page 13 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

services is the perception that they provide limited confidentiality. For 

example, according to the 1998 Air Force needs assessment, more active 

duty personnel (20 percent) and civilian spouses (22 percent) said that 

limited confidentiality was a barrier to using Air Force family support 

services than any other reason, including “too busy,” “stigma of using 

services,” “lack of child care,” “staff not knowledgeable,” “not interested in 

services,” and “inconvenient location,” among others.10 In addition, we 

previously reported that a military dependent seeking counseling on 

domestic violence issues cannot be assured that the information provided 

will not be disclosed.11 In focus groups we conducted during this review, 

military spouses said that there is a general lack of confidence and trust in 

the military family support system. The perception among some military 

spouses is that those who seek help from military providers will be labeled 

as “problem wives” or “complainers,” although other spouses indicated that 

assistance such as provided by the Airman’s Attic (i.e., loaner program for 

clothing, toys, and household appliances) is a positive experience and 

benefit.

Need Assessments 

Provide Information 

About the Demands 

and Challenges 

Associated With 

Military Life

The Air Force needs assessment survey includes questions designed to 

measure needs for crisis assistance, deployment and mobility support, 

family advocacy, family life education, parenting education, information 

referral and assistance, family member employment, transition and 

relocation assistance, personal financial management education and 

information, and help with elder care responsibilities and family members 

with physical and/or mental handicaps. DOD guidance indicates that 

military family needs are generally met by programs providing assistance in

10 The Air Force did not include a question about possible barriers to the use of family 

support programs in the 2000 needs assessment; therefore, the needs assessment for 1998 

provides the most recent data.

11 Military Dependents: Services Provide Limited Confidentiality in Family Abuse Cases

(GAO/NSIAD-00-127, Apr. 5, 2000).
Page 14 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

these areas.12 However, despite the emphasis in DOD family policy 

regulations (i.e., DOD Directive 1342.17, issued Dec. 30, 1988) that military 

family research and program evaluation be directed at understanding the 

needs of DOD personnel and their families, there is no authoritative 

description of military community and family needs across the diverse 

military population. Table 1 shows the results from the Air Force’s 2000 

survey of active duty personnel and civilian spouses regarding the major 

needs DOD has identified. 

12 DOD regulations addressing these military family needs concern programs and services 

offered primarily through military family support centers. DOD has other programs 

designed to support family needs, including, child care and various morale, welfare, and 

recreation activities. Although the latter issues may be touched on in need assessments, 

these programs are not under the jurisdiction of the Office of Family Policy, and therefore, 

under the regulation we refer to here (DOD Instruction 1342.22, issued Dec. 30, 1992), they 

are not required to be included in the needs assessment.
Page 15 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

Table 1: Results From the Air Force 2000 Community Needs Assessment

Support service or program

Active duty personnel

that reported a need

(percent)

Civilian spouses that

reported a need

(percent)a

Deployment support

Morale calls 56 54

E-mail communications 51 49

Support during separations 30 37

Calls from unit to family 29 37

Car maintenance help 28 38

Predeployment support 23 17

Newsletters 14 23

Post-deployment assistance 12 7

Help with child care costs 11 13

Family support groups 10 17

Financial planning 10 7

Emergency financial assistance 9 8

Spouse employment support 8 13

Family care plan help 6 5

Youth supervision 6 9

Family reunion training 4 5

Workshops about family 

life/parenting

2 3

Respite care 2 4

Family advocacyb

Family maltreatment services 2 2

Family violence prevention 

information

2 2

Family life education 4 4

Parenting classes 4 6

Information and referral

Housing referral 23 21

Directory of community 

services/programs

15 23

Family member employment 

assistance

12 16

Transition assistancec

Retirement employment 

information

5 5
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Note: The percentages do not add to 100 because respondents could select more than one item. 

Based on Air Force calculations, the margin of error for active duty members’ responses is less than 

1 percentage point, and the margin of error for spouse responses is plus or minus 1 percentage point. 

The 2000 needs assessment was used at all Air Force bases. A total of 58,732 surveys were 

completed—35,732 among active duty members (55 percent response rate) and 22,194 among 

spouses (25 percent response rate). The random sample of active duty members was drawn by the Air 

Force Personnel Center, oversampling members in ranks E1 to E4 to compensate for typically low 

response rates from this group. Surveys of active duty members were distributed and collected at their 

duty stations. The random spouse sample, also oversampled to account for typically low response 

rates from civilian spouses, was drawn from Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System data 

provided by the Defense Manpower Data Center. Spouse surveys were mailed directly to spouses, 

who then returned their completed surveys by mail. 

a

 Differences between active duty members’ and spouses’ responses cannot be attributed to 

differences between married couples because the members and spouses were randomly selected. In 

addition, not all the active duty respondents were married.

b

 The Family Advocacy Program is a mandatory program.

c

 The Transition Assistance Program is a mandatory program.

d The Relocation Assistance Program is a mandatory program.

e

 The Air Force’s Exceptional Family Member Program identifies family members who have exceptional 

medical and/or educational needs so that personnel can be assigned to locations with adequate 

medical and educational resources to meet the family member’s need.

Considering only the number of responses, table 1 shows that Air 

Force-wide, needs for support related to deployments and separations 

were far more commonly reported than needs associated with other key

Support service or program

Active duty personnel

that reported a need

(percent)

Civilian spouses that

reported a need

(percent)a

Retirement/separation workshops 7 6

Relocation assistanced

Moving services/assistance 20 22

Relocation assistance 15 14

Relocation information 11 14

Financial help with relocation 

expenses

6 6

Sponsorship assistance 14 10

Personal financial management

Budget counseling 9 7

Financial education/information 12 10

Emergency financial assistance 9 7

Special needs

Elder care services 2 2

Exceptional family membere 5 6

(Continued From Previous Page)
Page 17 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

family support areas.13 More than 50 percent of both active duty members 

and spouses said that they needed morale telephone calls during 

deployments and separations. In a focus group we conducted at one Air 

Force base, spouses of enlisted Air Force members specifically highlighted 

a need for morale calls and an increase in the use of videophones and 

phone cards for these purposes.14 The top five most commonly reported 

needs for deployment-related support—needs for morale calls, email 

communication, support during separations, calls from units to families, 

and car maintenance help—are fairly consistent between the 

servicemembers and the spouses. The exception is car maintenance help, 

which ranks third among spouses and fifth among active duty members. 

Considering all the different types of community and family support 

programs and services where needs were measured, Air Force-wide, the 

top five most reported needed by active duty members were morale calls 

during deployments/separations (56 percent), email communication during 

deployments/separations (51 percent), adult fitness activities (49 percent), 

full-day child care on base (40 percent), and adult continuing education

(37 percent).15 The top five most reported needed programs and services by 

military spouses, Air Force-wide, were morale calls during 

deployments/separations (54 percent), email communication during 

deployments/separations (49 percent), adult fitness activities (42 percent),

13 This is consistent with Air Force data on the pace of military air operations and 

deployments. In recent congressional testimony, the Air Force Chief of Staff reported that 

Air Force personnel are deploying over three times more often with a force 60 percent 

smaller than its former size. 

14 While morale calls are highly valued by Air Force spouses, they said that they have 

concerns about the privacy of their conversations, since these calls must be placed by 

operators and are monitored, to some degree, for time. Videophones, which involve a 

telephone and video connection, provide another option for making morale calls. Air Force 

spouses told us that more resources are needed for videophones as well as phone cards, 

which would presumably allow them to make calls directly, without the use of an operator. 

15 The Air Force needs assessment also includes background questions to develop a 

statistical/demographic profile of the respondents and includes other questions about what 

causes stress, ways of relieving stress, top concerns Air Force-wide and at the base (e.g., 

housing, safety, pace of military operations, health care, and spouse employment), 

supportiveness of the Air Force community, satisfaction with multiple characteristics of the 

Air Force way of life, and problems encountered in the family in the past 12 months.
Page 18 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

car maintenance help during deployments/separations (38 percent), and 

support during separations (37 percent).16

Needs Assessment 

Results and Budgets 

for Family Support 

Programs Are Not 

Consistently Linked

The Air Force has used need assessment results to budget for some family 

support programs but not for others, even though DOD regulations state 

that designing, planning, continuing, expanding, or terminating programs 

should be based on the results. For example, it has used the assessments as 

a basis for budgeting for some child care programs but has not generally 

used them for family advocacy programs (e.g., programs to prevent and 

treat domestic violence) and for programs under the family support centers 

(e.g., deployment support, spouse employment assistance, general family 

readiness services, and financial management education and information, 

among others). An Air Force family support center official who develops 

budgets for one command’s base programs said that the Air Force has no 

requirement to use needs assessment data to help in budgeting for the 

programs.

According to an Air Force child care program official, in the past needs 

assessment data was used to allocate funds for a new child care initiative. 

Specifically, the results were used to determine which bases should receive 

priority for $1 million provided for an extended day care program. Though 

child care programs provide 10 hours of child care a day, according to the 

Air Force official, the Air Force downsizing had resulted in members’

having to work longer hours and needing extended care for their children. 

According to the Air Force, the needs assessment results were used to 

determine which bases would have priority in receiving additional funds 

for extended day care services. In addition, the Air Force uses assessment 

data to project the need for child care. In the early 1990s, DOD established 

a formula for estimating the need of its military families for child care 

services that was based on the number of children up to age 12 in military 

families whose parents worked outside the home and needed some type of 

child care. 

On the other hand, Air Force officials from the family advocacy and family 

support center programs said that needs assessment data had no direct 

impact and is not typically connected to family program budgets or 

resource allocations. An Air Force family advocacy official indicated that 

16 The same percent of spouses said that they needed support during separations and calls 

from the unit to the family.
Page 19 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

the need assessment results are primarily used for research and evaluation 

purposes. For example, the results have been used to understand 

community functioning, to establish prevention-related initiatives in the 

family support area, and to support Air Force research on techniques to 

estimate the prevalence of domestic violence. According to an Air Force 

official, family advocacy program budgets are determined on the basis of a 

formula that accounts for the number of people in the area they expect to 

serve and an indicator of how long it takes to review a domestic violence 

case.

An Air Force family support center official said that there is not normally a 

direct connection between the results of the need assessments and family 

program budgets, but cited one example in which need assessment results 

had been used to create new family support services. Several years ago, a 

personnel readiness position was created to respond to emerging family 

needs associated with an increase in Air Force deployments. However, the 

Air Force was unable to obtain money to fund an additional civilian staff 

member for the position and assigned duties associated with the position to 

an existing active duty member.

The Air Force has also used needs assessment data for policy changes, 

knowledge building, planning, and some training. For example:

• The Air Force changed its policy on the minimum age for using base 

fitness centers because data showed a desire for teens to have access to 

the centers.

• Recommendations on the Air Force’s “home alone” policy were based 

on data concerning the age that parents believe it is safe to leave 

children at home alone, unsupervised, for about 2 hours.

• Family support staff at one base use the data to provide a “big picture”

view of the needs of military personnel and family members connected 

to the base community.

• Family support professionals use the data to inform Air Force leaders 

and at one base used data showing that servicemembers did not believe 

the base leaders support family programs to encourage the leaders to 

participate in an annual family-oriented base-wide event.

• Air Force Education and Training Command family support staff include 

needs assessment results in squadron commander training briefings.

• Needs assessment results have been used to help develop installation 

plans for family support services.
Page 20 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

According to private sector organizations like the United Way, the failure to 

use needs assessments in resource allocation decisions casts serious doubt 

on the value of the assessments, from the perspective of both program 

clients and managers. The extent to which the assessments are used for 

resource allocation plays a role in clients’ commitment to the process and 

therefore the quality of the results. For example, family support staff at one 

base believed that a reason for the civilian spouses’ low response rate to 

the assessment survey (i.e., 27 percent) was that there was no indication 

that the sponsor of the survey directly influenced base activities; there was 

no cover letter from the base commander indicating sponsorship of the 

survey. 

Conclusions Because the Air Force need assessment process does not meet criteria 

recognized as important in conducting needs assessments that are used for 

program planning and resource allocation, its assessment process may not 

be useful for designing, continuing, expanding, or terminating family 

support services, as required by DOD regulation. Using these criteria in 

designing and implementing its needs assessment process would give the 

Air Force more and better information on which to determine what 

programs it should reduce, expand, or eliminate based on information that 

needs have increased, decreased, or emerged; the type of support available 

in the civilian community; and the programs that have funding priority. In 

addition, the Air Force’s inconsistent use of need assessment results for 

family program budgeting purposes does not fully support the DOD 

requirement that needs assessments be used to design, plan, continue, 

expand, or terminate family support programs.

DOD’s regulation is broad and lacks specific requirements for conducting 

military family need assessments. With specific guidance on conducting 

need assessments, including the criteria we have cited in this report, the 

Department could ensure that the Air Force and other services’ need 

assessments processes provide useful information on which to determine 

what programs should be reduced, expanded or eliminated, as generally 

required by DOD.

Recommendations for 

Executive Action

In light of DOD policy, we recommend that the Secretary of Defense direct 

the Secretary of the Air Force to require the following in conducting its 

needs assessments: (1) the use of benchmarks to define when needs have 

increased or decreased, (2) the use of a plan to determine how need 
Page 21 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

assessment results will be prioritized in supporting resource allocation 

decisions, (3) the use and integration of information on the type and 

capacity of off base family support resources, and (4) a consistent and 

defined role for the results of the need assessment process in supporting 

family programs’ budget development and resource allocations. We also 

recommend that the Secretary of Defense direct the Assistant Secretary of 

Defense for Force Management Policy to include the same four 

requirements in current DOD regulations and guidance pertaining to the 

services’ family need assessments. 

Agency Comments and 

Our Evaluation

In written comments on a draft of this report, DOD agreed with our 

recommendations and stated specific actions they will take to implement 

each one. Specifically, DOD indicated it would revise family support 

program instructions to require the use of benchmarks in determining 

needs and program effectiveness; review policy guidance and, as 

appropriate, require the Air Force and other services to prioritize the 

results of their need assessments and use data on the capacity of off base 

resources as a variable in determining the priority for family support 

programs; and develop a process to ensure the use of quantitative and 

qualitative data, including need assessment results, in resource allocation 

decisions. Although the Department concurred with the recommendations, 

it expressed concern about some general implications and conclusions 

drawn in our report. DOD’s principal concerns and our response are 

summarized below. The full text of DOD’s comments is in appendix V.

DOD acknowledged that there is value in using benchmarks as a means of 

measuring need in family support programs and that benchmarks can aid 

installation commanders in making resource allocation decisions. 

However, the Department said that our report implied that a needs 

assessment survey is the only way that this can be accomplished. Although 

our report focuses on the principal needs assessment instrument identified 

by the Air Force, this is not intended as an exclusive endorsement of that 

method. One of our criteria in evaluating the Air Force’s needs assessment 

process was the use of a random sample survey. However, we state in our 

report, “These criteria are not exhaustive, but represent core elements of 

need assessment processes. They do not exclude the use of supplementary 

need assessment practices or tools including such things as focus groups or 

forums, where appropriate...”.

DOD also stated that the assessment process is complex and is only one 

factor in the budget development and resource allocation process. We 
Page 22 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

agree that the budget development and resource allocation processes may 

be responsive to factors other than need assessments. However, need 

assessment results must be among these factors, given that in the Air 

Force’s case, it is the principal tool for obtaining feedback from program 

users about the need for family support services and programs. The 

number of surveys completed in the Air Force’s 2000 needs assessment was 

58,000, and as we report, the survey itself covers needs associated with at 

least 65 family and community support programs and services and 14 child 

care-specific services, among other issues. 

DOD stated that our study was limited in scope, including only one service 

and two bases, and therefore may not present a complete picture of the 

process involved in program prioritization and resource allocation 

decisions. Nonetheless, the Department agreed to our recommendations to 

revise family need assessment procedures for all services, including 

incorporating provisions to use need assessment results in budget 

development and resource allocation. With respect to scope, our report 

states that the focus and scope of this study was the Air Force’s family need 

assessment process. We met with the primary Air Force sponsors of the 

needs assessment. These officials have key managerial responsibilities for 

Air Force family support programs covered in the needs assessment. They 

provided us with information on the extent to which the Air Force needs 

assessment data is used to support budget and resource allocation 

decisions. We also contacted additional Air Force personnel that these 

officials said we should contact. We visited one Air Force base to observe 

how the Air Force was training local staff on the use and interpretation of 

Air Force needs assessment results and were told that this process was 

consistent throughout the Air Force. Earlier, in conducting background 

research for this report, we traveled to another Air Force base. In addition, 

our background research for this work involved interviews with family 

support officials from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Reserves and site 

visits or contacts with family support staff at three other military 

installations. 

We conducted our review from January 2000 to January 2001 in accordance 

with generally accepted government auditing standards.

Appendix I contains information on the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps 

needs assessment processes; appendix II includes a list of literature we 

reviewed on needs assessments; appendix III contains examples of recent 

family support programs and initiatives; and appendix IV shows the results 

of needs assessments Air Force-wide, from a U.S. base and from an 
Page 23 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

overseas base. Appendix V contains the full text of DOD’s comments and 

our detailed response to them.

Scope and 

Methodology

In conducting our work, we met with family and community support 

officials from DOD’s Office of Family Policy and the Air Force to obtain 

information on the requirements to conduct family and community need 

assessments, discuss how family needs are determined, obtain copies of 

the tools and instruments used to assess needs and to obtain need 

assessment results. We interviewed officials to determine how results of 

needs assessments were used in family support program budget decisions. 

In addition, we visited or contacted family and community support 

professional staff at three Air Force bases and interviewed them on the 

need assessment process and how need assessments impacted program 

budget decisions. At the bases, we conducted focus groups with military 

family members to gain additional insights into military family needs, 

issues and concerns and we met with senior base leadership. We observed 

needs assessment training of family support professional staff at an Air 

Force base to gain a detailed understanding of the Air Force process. 

Finally, we reviewed studies conducted by nonprofit and/or private sector, 

academic, and government organizations that describe central features and 

practices of community needs assessments. 

List of offices contacted and locations visited:

• Department of Defense, Office of Family Policy, Washington, D.C.

• Department of Defense Family Readiness Conference, Phoenix, Arizona

• Air Force Family Advocacy, Brooks Air Force Base, Texas

• Air Force Child Development, Youth and Community Center Programs, 

Crystal City, Virginia

• Air Force Family Matters, Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

• Air Force Family Matters, Air Education and Training Command, 

Randolph Air Force Base, Texas

• Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina

• Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts

• National Military Family Association, Alexandria, Virginia

• Caliber Associates, Fairfax, Virginia

We focused on the broad issues concerning the assessment of military 

family and community needs rather than the techniques used to collect 

needs information (e.g., surveys). For example, we did not assess the 

strengths and weaknesses of the specific content, scope, or overall validity 
Page 24 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

of the Air Force’s family and community needs assessment instrument. We 

also did not review the use of potentially more objective indicators of need, 

which some literature recommends should be incorporated into 

community needs assessments, for example, statistical indicators of 

economic health or family well-being such as the number of families 

receiving/eligible for public assistance, the numbers of households with 

various family configurations, the median age of women giving birth, the 

educational level of persons 18 and over, and housing problems, among 

others. 

We are sending copies of this report to appropriate congressional 

committees; the Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense; the 

Honorable Gail H. McGinn, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force 

Management Policy; and the Honorable Lawrence J. Delaney, Acting 

Secretary of the Air Force. Copies will also be made available to other 

interested parties upon request.

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact me 

at (202) 512-2700. A list of additional contacts and staff acknowledgments 

is in appendix VI.

Sincerely yours,

Nancy Kingsbury

Managing Director

Applied Research and Methods
Page 25 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel
Page 26 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

Appendix I

Army, Navy, and Marine Corps Military Family Apendxies

Need Assessment Processes ApendixI

The Army uses surveys to identify the servicewide needs of military family 

members. They include, the Survey of Army Families (SAF), in use since 

1987; the Sample Survey of Military Personnel (SSMP), in use since 1958; 

and the Department of Defense (DOD) survey of active duty personnel and 

spouses. These surveys are distributed at different times, to different 

audiences, and differ considerably in content. The SAF is distributed about 

every 4 years to civilian spouses of active duty Army personnel, and the 

SSMP is distributed every fall and spring to active duty Army personnel. 

The DOD-wide survey of active duty personnel and spouses is sent out 

every 7 years and is designed to broadly assess attitudes and perspectives 

of military life across all the services. Separate survey instruments are used 

for active duty personnel and spouses of military personnel. 

The Army also relies on information collected during its annual Family 

Action Plan process. This process was implemented in 1984 and involves 

holding forums with military family members to identify issues of concern 

to Army families or issues that detract from their quality of life. The forums 

are held at Army bases, major commands, and at headquarters. Issues that 

cannot be addressed at lower levels are passed on to officials at higher 

levels. From forums, the Army produces its annual Family Action Plan, 

which prioritizes top concerns and issues for Army families and lays out a 

strategy and vehicle to address them. Open forums like these have recently 

become more widely used in DOD and are also used by state governments 

to determine needs for services. While useful for obtaining grassroots 

input, this process does not involve the use of representative surveys or 

random or representative selection of forum participants to ensure 

representative input about Army family needs.

The Navy also uses surveys to identify family member needs. Since 1994 

the Navy has implemented three needs surveys, each of which has a 

different focus and target audience. The 1994 and 1996 need assessment 

surveys were distributed to active duty Navy personnel and spouses. The 

emphasis in the 1994 survey was on housing and morale, welfare, and 

recreation issues, while the emphasis in the 1996 survey was on broad 

family support issues and concerns, including the use of and satisfaction 

with family support programs. The Navy’s 2000 needs survey had a 

different focus from that in prior years−it was distributed to senior Navy 

leaders to assess their views of military family needs.

The Marine Corps does not have a dedicated servicewide family needs 

assessment instrument or process. The Marine Corps relies on the results 
Appendix I

Army, Navy, and Marine Corps Military 

Family Need Assessment Processes

Page 27 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

of its quality of life survey to provide family needs information. This survey 

is distributed only to active duty members.
Page 28 GAO-01-80 Militay Personnel

Appendix II

Needs Assessment Literature ApendixI

There is no authoritative study or body of research concerning how best to 

conduct military family need assessments. In developing criteria, we 

reviewed studies and research conducted by nonprofit and/or private, 

academic, and government organizations. These criteria are not exhaustive 

but represent core elements of need assessment processes. They do not 

exclude the use of supplementary need assessment practices or tools, 

including such things as focus groups or forums, where appropriate, and 

they do not involve specific issues of survey methodology. To identify 

principal elements of need assessment processes, we focused on research 

conducted by organizations experienced and familiar with providing family 

support services, such as the United Way and Family Support America, 

formerly known as the Family Resource Coalition of America. United Ways 

help meet health and human-care needs through approximately 1,400 

community-based United Way organizations across the country. Family 

Support America, formed in 1981, builds networks, produces resources, 

advocates for family supportive public policy, provides consulting services, 

gathers knowledge on family support, and offers a national certification for 

family support centers and programs.

Literature Reviewed

Brown, B.S. Drug Abuse Prevention Needs Assessment Methodologies: A 

Review of the Literature. Washington, D.C.: National Institute on Drug 

Abuse, Center for Health Services Research, 1997.

Department of Defense, Inspector General. Inspection of the Military 

Department Family Centers, report 90-INS-11. Arlington, Va.: Department 

of Defense, 1990.

Family Resource Coalition of America. Know Your Community: A 

Step-by-Step Guide to Community Needs and Resource Assessment. 

Chicago: Family Resource Coalition of America, 1995.

General Accounting Office. Health Service Program Needs Assessments 

Found Inadequate, HRD-81-63. Washington, D.C.: GAO, 1981.

Kaufman, R. “A Needs Assessment Audit.” Performance Improvement.

Feb. 1994, pp. 14-16.

Kaufman, R. “The New Realities, Strategic Planning, Needs Assessment, 

and Organizational Contribution.” Tallahassee, Fl.: Florida State University; 
Appendix II

Needs Assessment Literature

Page 29 GAO-01-80 Militay Personnel

1998. http://onap.fsu.edu/onap/download/hsna/plan.pdf (downloaded 

Aug. 2000).

Kaufman, R., A.M. Rojas, and H. Mayer. Needs Assessment: A User’s Guide. 

Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Educational Technology Publications, 1993.

Orthner, D.K., and S. Smith. “Measuring Program Needs: A Strategic 

Design.” Evaluation and Program Planning. 9:3 (1986), pp. 199-207.

Parsons, R.J., and others. “Community Needs Assessment: An Integrated 

Approach.” National Civic Review. 73 (1990), pp. 426-35.

United Way of America. Needs Assessment: The State of the Art—A Guide 

for Planners, Managers, and Funders of Health and Human Services. 

Alexandria, Va.: United Way, 1982.

United Way of America. Needs Assessment and Evaluation Practices of 

United Ways: Report on a Joint Study by United Way of America and The 

Urban Institute. Alexandria, Va.: United Way, 1984.

Watkins, R., and others. “Needs Assessment: A Digest, Review, and 

Comparison of Needs Assessment Literature.” Performance Improvement, 

September, 1998, pp. 40-53.
Page 30 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

Appendix III

Recent Military Family and Personnel Support 

Programs and Initiatives ApendxiI

New Parent Support 

Program

In fiscal year 1998, new parent support programs became a line item in the 

DOD budget. Each service has initiated a voluntary program to provide

(1) personal support for new parents, (2) reinforcement of the skills and 

strengths needed for quality parenting, (3) facilitation of emotional 

preparation for parenthood, (4) increased awareness of the available 

community resources, (5) reduced isolation of new parents, 

(6) identification of families with the potential for problem parenting, and 

(7) early referral to appropriate support services. Each program offers 

basic support services to all parents who request services, while focusing 

more intensively on families where there is a higher risk for child abuse. 

Each program offers a set of core services to every expecting family served 

by a military medical treatment facility, including a prenatal hospital visit 

and assessment, one prenatal home visit, postnatal visits in the hospital and 

at home, and education and support groups. 

Healthy Parenting 

Initiative

The healthy parenting initiative was established to provide military-specific 

parenting resources that are readily accessible and to address parenting of 

children from infancy through adolescence in connection with the military 

lifestyle. DOD believed that the challenges of military life were not 

adequately addressed in the existing civilian-based parenting curricula 

used in DOD family support programs. For example, for military parents 

who have little time to attend traditional parent education classes, 

parenting materials must be flexible and readily accessible. DOD believes 

that as a result of an increasing level of military operations, many families 

struggle with intermittent single parenting and helping their children cope 

with loss and separation. Moreover, they indicate that because most active 

duty members’ families, even when intact, are usually separated from 

extended family members, family-based parenting guidance is limited.

DOD’s Office of Family Policy, in partnership with the Department of 

Agriculture’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension 

System, chartered the initiative to develop military-specific parenting 

resources. The Air Force is designated as the Executive Agent for the 

project. The initiative will produce material that can be used in a classroom 

and also made available to parents through a variety of other formats (e.g., 

Web-based material, one-page flyers, and audiotapes). In September 1999, 

the Air Force developed three specific proposals outlining the following 

parenting resources: (1) educational materials to address parenting in the 

military and strategies to ensure ease of access to the materials,

(2) materials and strategies to improve communications between teens and 
Appendix III

Recent Military Family and Personnel 

Support Programs and Initiatives

Page 31 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

parents, and (3) command educational materials on links between healthy 

families and mission readiness.

Combat Stress Control 

Program

DOD issued regulations on the Combat Stress Control Program in February 

1999. This program is designed to ensure appropriate prevention and 

management of combat stress reaction casualties to preserve mission 

effectiveness and warfighting and to minimize the short- and long-term 

adverse effects of combat on the physical, psychological, intellectual, and 

social health of servicemembers. The program is to include curricula, 

training, and exercise requirements for joint and service-specific 

operations that focus on primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of 

combat stress reactions in settings from the barracks to the battlefield. The 

program includes training in the principles of combat stress management 

and training that addresses leadership, communication with troops, unit 

morale and cohesion, and individual psychological stressors before, during, 

and after deployment.

Suicide Prevention In June 1999, the President announced expansion of the Air Force suicide 

prevention pilot program throughout the military by the end of 1999. The 

prevention program considers nine risk factors that were found to be 

frequently associated with suicide victims and four factors believed to 

protect people from suicide attempts. These factors include a history of 

mental health problems, substance abuse, relationship problems, poor 

coping skills, legal problems, previous suicide attempts, financial 

problems, poor job performance, and social isolation. The protective 

factors include establishing social support in units, teaching individual 

coping skills, establishing the belief among military personnel that seeking 

mental health care is acceptable, and ensuring privacy protection. The 

program involves the following: (1) distributing public service messages by 

DOD senior leaders that express concern about suicide and the importance 

of encouraging and protecting members who seek help; (2) debriefing 

individuals and units following traumatic events; (3) establishing annual 

suicide awareness and prevention training for all military personnel;

(4) integrating the delivery of preventive services from six agencies—

mental health, family advocacy, health and wellness centers, family support 

centers, child and youth centers, and chaplains; (5) including suicide 

prevention training in all professional military education programs;

(6) developing a more robust database of those who committed and 

attempted suicide so that risk factors and trends can be analyzed and 
Appendix III

Recent Military Family and Personnel 

Support Programs and Initiatives

Page 32 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

preventive measures taken; and (7) conducting unit risk assessment 

surveys and unit intervention as required.

Increase in DOD 

School Counselors

In September 1999, the DOD Education Activity announced that it planned 

to nearly double the number of counselors and psychologists in its schools 

by June 2000 to help students deal with increasing stresses in military life. 

This amounts to an increase of 200 counselors and psychologists. 

According to the Education Activity, this increase was in response to 

parents’ concerns about their children, particularly in Europe, where the 

high rate of deployments had increased family disruptions. In addition, the 

counselors were to increase their contact with students to help them plan 

for the future, including college or vocational educational programs.

Increase in 

Technology-Based 

Family Support 

Delivery Mechanisms

In 1996, DOD’s Office of Family Policy stated a commitment to the 

development of technology strategies to improve access to and use of 

family program information as part of its Family Program Internet 

Initiatives. Examples of the Web sites that have been developed follow:

MAPsite (http://dticaw.dtic.mil/mapsite). This is a customer-oriented public 

site that provides military members, civilians, and their families 

self-assessment tools, advice, and links to family program areas.

Military Teens on the Move (http://dticaw.dtic.mil/mtom). This site was 

designed to help military teens meet the challenges of frequent moves and 

the demands of their parents’ mobile lifestyle.

DOD Job Search (http://dod.jobsearch.org). This site features want ads, 

resume writing, and referral systems geared to transitioning military 

personnel and their spouses, DOD federal civilian employees, and the 

spouses of relocating active duty members.

In addition, the Army, Navy and Air Force have public access Web sites 

designed to provide information on a range of quality of life and family 

support-related services and information. The Army’s Web site is called the 

Virtual Army Community Service Center 

(http://trol.redstone.army.mil/acs/virtual/target.html ). The Navy’s site is 

known as LIFELines (http://www.lifelines4qol.org ). The Air Force’s family 

support-related Web site is known as Crossroads 

(http://www.afcrossroads.com/home.cfm). 
Page 33 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

Appendix IV

Results of Some Air Force Needs Assessments 

(2000) ApendixVI

Table 2: Results of the Air Force 2000 Needs Assessment Air Force-Wide and for Air Force Bases in Aviano, Italy and Bedford, 

Massachusetts.

Percent of active duty personnel that 

reported a needa

Percent of civilian spouses that 

reported a needb

Support service or program 

All Air

Force

Aviano Air

base

Hanscom Air

base

All Air

Force

Aviano Air

base

Hanscom Air

base

Deployment

Morale calls 56 63 47 54 64 42

Email communications 51 56 50 49 51 43

Support during separations 30 28 28 37 43 28

Calls from unit to family 29 28 25 37 43 27

Car maintenance help 28 32 22 38 57 32

Predeployment support 23 25 22 17 16 14

Newsletters 14 14 9 23 25 14

Post-deployment assistance 12 14 13 7 5 6

Help with child care costs 11 14 8 13 8 12

Family support groups 10 10 9 17 17 19

Financial planning 10 11 8 7 7 5

Emergency financial assistance 9 10 6 8 9 4

Spouse employment support 8 8 7 13 22 12

Family care plan help 6 6 4 5 4 5

Youth supervision 6 6 7 9 10 10

Family reunion training 4 3 5 5 4 7

Workshops about family life/parenting 2 2 2 3 2 3

Respite care 2 3 3 4 3 5

Family advocacy

Family maltreatment services 2 3 2 2 0 2

Family violence prevention information 2 2 2 2 0 2

Family life education 4 5 54 5 6

Parenting classes 4 5 56 8 5

Information and referral

Housing referral 23 33 21 21 27 17

Directory of community 

services/programs

15 18 21 23 31 27

Family member employment 

assistance

12 13 12 16 19 15

Transition assistance

Retirement employment information 5 4 5 5 4 7
Appendix IV

Results of Some Air Force Needs 

Assessments (2000)

Page 34 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

Note: The percents do not add to 100 because respondents could select more than one item.

a

 The margin of error for active duty responses from Aviano is plus or minus 5 percentage points and 

from Hanscom is 4 percentage points. The margin of error for spouse responses at Aviano and 

Hanscom is plus or minus 6 percentage points. 

b

 Differences between active duty members and civilian spouses cannot be attributed to differences 

between married couples. Survey participants were randomly selected. In addition, not all active duty 

respondents were married.

Considering only the number of responses, the needs most commonly 

reported by active duty members at Aviano and Hanscom were for morale 

calls and email communication during deployments, separations, and 

unaccompanied tours. Nearly two-thirds of active duty respondents at 

Aviano said that they needed morale calls, and more than 50 percent said 

that they needed email communication. At Hanscom Air Force Base,

50 percent of active duty respondents said that they needed email 

communication during deployments, separations, or unaccompanied tours, 

and 47 percent said they needed morale calls. The same pattern of results 

was found for spouses, with the exception that morale calls and car 

maintenance help were the needs most commonly reported by spouses at 

Aviano Air Force Base. Specifically, nearly two-thirds of spouses at Aviano 

said they needed morale calls during deployments, separations, and 

unaccompanied tours, and nearly 60 percent said they needed car 

maintenance help during these periods. Consistent with other findings, 

Percent of active duty personnel that 

reported a needa

Percent of civilian spouses that 

reported a needb

Support service or program

All Air

Force

Aviano Air

base

Hanscom Air

base

All Air

Force

Aviano Air

base

Hanscom Air

base

Relocation assistance

Retirement/separation workshops 7 5 8 6 4 7

Moving services/assistance 20 21 24 22 20 22

Relocation assistance 15 15 18 14 10 15

Relocation information 11 12 15 14 13 16

Financial help with relocation expenses 6 8 5 6 6 3

Sponsorship assistance 14 16 17 10 15 11

Personal financial management

Budget counseling 9 8 7 7 4 4

Financial education/information 12 14 11 10 10 8

Emergency financial assistance 9 9 6 7 8 2

Special needs

Elder care services 2 2 2 2 0 0

Exceptional family member 5 9 6 6 6 7

(Continued From Previous Page)
Appendix IV

Results of Some Air Force Needs 

Assessments (2000)

Page 35 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

more spouses at Hanscom Air Force Base said they had needs for morale 

calls (42 percent) and email communication (43 percent) compared to 

other support needs. 

The Air Force-wide results show that when comparing among the different 

categories of need, more active duty personnel and spouses indicated a 

need for some services or support concerning deployments and 

separations, relocation, and information and referral, compared to other 

areas. These results are also reflected in the data for Hanscom and Aviano. 

The greatest numbers of both active duty members and spouses indicated 

the need for some type of deployment/separation-related support (i.e., 

maximum percent of active duty is 63 percent and maximum percent of 

spouses is 64 percent). Comparatively, the next greatest numbers of active 

duty members and spouses indicated needs for housing referrals (i.e., 

maximum percent of active duty is 33 percent and maximum percent of 

spouses is 27 percent) or a directory of community services (i.e., maximum 

percent of active duty is 21 percent and maximum percent of spouses is 

31 percent) and moving services (i.e., maximum percent of active duty is 

24 percent and maximum percent of spouses is 22 percent) . 

Similar to the Air Force-wide need assessment results, needs expressed by 

active duty personnel and spouses at Hanscom and Aviano in some cases 

exceeded expressed needs for the conventional family support programs 

and services listed in table 2. In considering all the different types of 

community and family support programs and services where needs were 

specifically measured, the five most commonly reported for active duty 

members at Hanscom were full-day child care on base (51 percent), email 

communication during deployments/separations (50 percent), adult fitness 

activities (50 percent), morale calls during deployments/separations 

(47 percent), and adult continuing education (35 percent). The five most 

commonly reported needs for active duty members at Aviano were the 

same as the results for Hanscom—only the order was different: morale 

calls during deployments/separation (63 percent), email communication 

during deployment/separation (56 percent), adult fitness activities 

(54 percent), full-day child care on base (50 percent), and adult continuing 

education (41 percent). 

Spouses at Hanscom and Aviano had three top five needs in common with 

each other and with active duty members−morale calls and email 

communication during deployments/separations and adult fitness 

activities. The top five most commonly reported needs by spouses at 

Hanscom were adult fitness activities (45 percent), email communication 
Appendix IV

Results of Some Air Force Needs 

Assessments (2000)

Page 36 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

during deployments/separation (43 percent), morale calls during 

deployments/separations (42 percent), chapel services (39 percent), and 

couples communication (36 percent). The top five most commonly 

reported needs by spouses at Aviano were morale calls during 

deployments/separations (64 percent), car maintenance help during 

deployments/separations (57 percent), email communication during 

deployments/separations (51 percent), adult fitness activities (44 percent), 

and children/youth/programs and services (36 percent).

The need assessment reports for Aviano and Hanscom were selected on the 

basis of convenience, with no attempt to match or contrast the bases on 

select criteria. However, the two bases are distinctly different in mission. 

An Air Force official indicated that the single most important factor that 

accounts for differences in base need assessments is mission, as 

differences in mission translate to differences in individual/unit behaviors, 

work styles, staffing, and resource distribution. Hanscom Air Force Base, 

located approximately 20 miles from Boston, is part of Air Force Materiel 

Command. Its primary mission is to manage the development and 

acquisition of electronic command and control systems, which gather and 

analyze information on potentially hostile forces. In short, Hanscom is 

primarily concerned with the business functions involved in developing 

and procuring electronics. On the other hand, Aviano, located in Italy, is 

home to the 16th Air Force which is part of Air Force European Command. 

Its mission is to execute air operations in support of the European 

Command and NATO. The 16th Air Force supports enforcement of peace in 

the Balkans and enforcement of the no-fly zone in northern Iraq. In spite of 

these distinctly different missions, needs assessment results appear 

remarkably similar.
Page 37 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

Appendix V

Comments From the Department of Defense ApendxVi
Appendix V

Comments From the Department of Defense

Page 38 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

See comment 1.

See comment 2.

See comment 3

See comment 4.
Appendix V

Comments From the Department of Defense

Page 39 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

See comment 5.

See comment 6.

See comment 7.

See comment 8.
Appendix V

Comments From the Department of Defense

Page 40 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

See comment 9.

See comment 10.

See comment 11.
Appendix V

Comments From the Department of Defense

Page 41 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel
Appendix V

Comments From the Department of Defense

Page 42 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

The following are GAO’s comments on DOD’s letter dated February 1, 2001. 

GAO Comments 1. DOD comments that we seemed to use the terms “needs assessment 

process” and “needs assessment survey” interchangeably in our report. 

It noted that there is a distinct difference between the survey that two 

of the services use and the complex process that all the services use. 

The focus of our report is the Air Force family need assessment 

process. We did not conduct a detailed assessment of other services’

processes, although we obtained some information on these during our 

background research (see app. I). In addition, we reviewed DOD need 

assessment requirements that pertain to all the services. During our 

review, the Air Force presented its family and community needs 

assessment survey as its primary method of determining the needs of 

its families. In technical comments on our draft report, the Air Force 

identified additional tools and methods, including the Air Force Quality 

of Life Survey, Leisure Needs Survey, DOD Worldwide Survey, and 

administrative data, among others. While these additional sources may 

be useful, the Air Force did not indicate how they are integrated, 

assessed, or prioritized to arrive at a representative and reliable 

indication of Air Force family and community needs. As we report here, 

there is such a process, although with limitations, associated with the 

Air Force’s family and community needs assessment survey.

2. DOD states that we have not fully captured Air Force practices in 

assessing needs, benchmarking, and linking the results of the needs 

assessment process to program and resource allocation decisions. 

However, the comment identifies no specific Air Force benchmarking 

practices or needs assessment results that are linked to program and 

resource allocation decisions.

3. DOD notes in its comments that its family support regulations apply 

only to family centers and do not apply to child and youth, education, 

or family advocacy programs. We note in our report, however, that DOD 

family center regulations do not apply to all DOD family support 

programs, including such programs as child care and various morale, 

welfare, and recreation programs. They also do not apply to family 

advocacy programs. However, the Air Force offices that oversee child 

and youth and family advocacy programs contribute to the 

development of the Air Force needs assessment survey and submit 

questions related to needs for these programs. Thus, while these 

programs are not required to conduct a needs assessment under the 
Appendix V

Comments From the Department of Defense

Page 43 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

regulation, they are engaged in the process, and it is not unreasonable 

to inquire how they use the information derived from it. Therefore, we 

included these offices in our review.

4. DOD notes that its policy does not direct the services to use a needs 

assessment survey to assess needs, but rather, broadly requires the 

services to assess the needs of its members. It also notes that policy 

does not require resource allocations to be based on needs 

assessments. However, DOD Instruction 1342.22, issued December 30, 

1992, states on page 4 that the secretaries of the military departments 

will develop a comprehensive evaluation system, including a needs 

assessment survey, to measure the effectiveness of family centers. 

Further, the regulation states that the survey is to be designed, 

constructed, and conducted to provide scientifically valid and reliable 

information about the needs and use patterns of individuals and 

families. The survey results are also to serve as the “basis for the design 

and planning of future services and the continuation, expansion, or 

termination of others.” While DOD released a “directive-type 

memorandum” on March 23, 1999, that modified the requirements 

under this instruction to establish baseline services at military 

installations, this change did not alter any other requirements under the 

instruction, including those related to family needs assessments. 

Therefore, on balance, it appears that DOD did, and continues to intend 

for the needs assessment to serve as the basis for resource allocation.

5. DOD notes that our report generally does not reflect the complete 

process the Air Force uses when making budget and resource 

allocation decisions. They also comment that we state in our report that 

the Air Force does not tie the results of the needs assessment process 

to budget and resource allocation. As requested, we determined how 

information from needs assessments affects the allocation of funding 

for Air Force family support programs. We note that the Air Force has 

used needs assessment results to budget for some family support 

programs but not for others, even though the DOD regulations state 

that designing, planning, continuing, expanding, or terminating 

programs should be based on the results. We state that the Air Force 

has used the assessments as a basis for budgeting for some child care 

programs but has not generally used them for family advocacy 

programs and for programs under the family support centers. Air Force 

family advocacy officials indicated that family advocacy program 

budgets are determined based on the number of people they expect to 

serve and how long it takes to review a domestic violence case. We also 
Appendix V

Comments From the Department of Defense

Page 44 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

note that, according to Air Force family support center officials, there 

is not normally a direct connection between the results of the need 

assessments and family program budgets. However, we report that 

need assessment results recently impacted budget decisions, 

specifically regarding the creation of a personnel readiness position in 

family centers.

6. DOD notes that the services use various methods to assess need and 

compare data from these sources to benchmark progress. Its comments 

further say that our report does not indicate whether required 

benchmarking refers to measuring only increases and decreases in 

needs solely based on the needs assessment survey. DOD comments 

that only using the survey may omit other important data that should be 

considered. Although our report focuses on the principal needs 

assessment instrument identified by the Air Force, we are not 

exclusively endorsing survey methods for development of benchmarks. 

One of our criteria in evaluating the Air Force’s needs assessment 

process was the use of a random sample survey. However, as we state 

in our report, these criteria represent core elements of need assessment 

processes, but do not exclude the use of supplementary need 

assessment practices or tools. In our observation of feedback and 

training based on the needs assessment, scattered reference was made 

to service-wide results, but base staff did not appear to have easy 

access to benchmarks or comparative information and expressed a 

desire for such information to better understand their own base’s 

results. As indicated in the Department’s comments, such information 

would have been made available on specific request.

7. DOD commented that base resource allocation decisions cannot be 

based on the results of a single need assessment instrument nor based 

on a review of a single service’s process. We do not state or imply that 

family support resource allocation decisions should be based solely on 

the results of any one need assessment survey. As requested, we 

determined how information from needs assessments affects the 

allocation of funding for Air Force family support programs. As noted 

in our report, the Air Force has used needs assessment results to 

budget for some family support programs but not for others. We also 

note that, “according to private sector organizations like the United 

Way, the failure to use needs assessments in resource allocation 

decisions casts serious doubt on the value of the assessments, from the 

perspective of both program clients and managers.”
Appendix V

Comments From the Department of Defense

Page 45 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

8. DOD commented that, while it is difficult to determine the number of 

programs required by law, many of the programs are required by law 

and that leaves very little discretionary funding available for 

reallocation among these programs. We agree that it is difficult to 

quantify the number of family support programs that are required by 

law, and DOD did not provide us with a specific number. Our reference 

to the number of programs required by law was made in the context of 

the list of programs and services that are included in the Air Force 

needs assessment report and for which respondents to the needs 

assessment are asked to indicate a need. We note that the Air Force’s 

final report on its 2000 needs assessment includes needs associated 

with at least 65 family and community support programs or services 

and 14 child care-specific services, among others. Specifically, among 

the 65 programs and services we reference, a minority of them appear 

to be linked to the three known mandated family support programs−

Family Advocacy, Transition Assistance, and Relocation Assistance.

9. DOD notes that its policy requires communities to assess the capacity 

of off base resources and to use that data in determining the allocation 

of resources for programs. The policies we reviewed required that 

family centers coordinate with local services to avoid duplication and 

that family needs be partially based on the services available in the 

local community. Thus, they did not explicitly require an assessment of 

local capacities but implied one for the type of services typically 

provided by family centers. Air Force personnel and their family 

members must reside in areas that range from major metropolitan 

areas to fairly isolated ones. This underscores the need for systematic 

consideration of the capacity of community services in supporting 

family needs. In communities of substantial size, such information 

should be readily available. In addition, existing published resources 

such as, The National Directory of Children, Youth and Families 

Services, may be useful, comprehensive resources to help identify and 

learn basic information about family support providers in locations 

across the United States. 

10. According to DOD, we imply that the Air Force does not assess the 

capacity of off base resources and use the results of the assessments. 

DOD states that in determining the allocation of resources for 

programs the Air Force has specific guidance to ensure that such 

information is obtained and available. It is not clear what Air Force 

guidance is being referred to. During our review, the Air Force provided 

us with policy guidance (Air Force Instruction 90-500, Feb. 1, 2000), 
Appendix V

Comments From the Department of Defense

Page 46 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

related to the authority and criteria for establishing groups to promote 

cross-organizational collaboration in addressing individual, family, and 

community concerns. However, we found no references to integrating 

information on the type and capacity of off base resources into the 

community needs assessment. During our observation of needs 

assessment training at one Air Force base and our review of the 

training documents, we did not find that family support staff were 

required to integrate information on the capacity of off base resources 

in reaching conclusions about what actions were to be taken based on 

the need assessment results.

11. DOD noted that rigidly quantifying the capacity of off base resources to 

deal with the needs of military members and families would be difficult 

if not impossible, but that where possible, all the services partner with 

the civilian communities. We neither state nor imply that the Air Force 

should make a rigid quantification. Rather, we state that if the Air Force 

does not determine what support services are available in the civilian 

community, how many people they can accommodate, and how they 

are used, its base family support staff cannot know whether they are 

duplicating services, underusing or overwhelming their own programs, 

or concentrating funds on the right programs. Existing publications 

such as, The National Directory of Children, Youth and Families 

Services, may help identify professional family support providers 

across the United States and provide basic information to support these 

efforts. 
Page 47 GAO-01-80 Military Personnel

Appendix VI

GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments ApendixVI

GAO Contacts Carolyn Copper, Ph.D. (202) 512-3762

Betty Ward-Zukerman, Ph.D. (202) 512-2732

Acknowledgments In addition to those named above, Kwai-Cheung Chan, John Oppenheim, 

Ph.D., Nancy Ragsdale, and Samantha Goodman made important 

contributions to this report.

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