Health Symptom Mothers Women Unadjusted Odds Ratio Adjusted Odds Ratio Headaches 64.7% 57.7% 1.32 (0.97, 1.79) 1.20 (0.87, 1.67) Fatigue 63.8% 66.2% 0.88 (0.64, 1.20) 0.87 (0.63, 1.21) Sleeping Difficulties 60.4% 54.2% 1.26 (0.93, 1.70) 1.13 (0.82, 1.55) Feeling unrefreshed after sleep 58.3% 54.8% 1.14 (0.84, 1.54) 1.05 (0.76, 1.44) Irritability/outbursts of anger 48.1% 40.1% 1.37 (1.02, 1.85) 1.40 (1.02, 1.91) Forgetfulness 46.0% 42.4% 1.13 (0.84, 1.53) 1.12 (0.82, 1.54) Low back pain 43.8% 41.8% 1.06 (0.79, 1.44) 1.03 (0.75, 1.41) General muscle or pain 42.6% 37.3% 1.22 (0.91, 1.66) 1.13 (0.82, 1.56) Difficulty finding the right word 40.4% 35.3% 1.23 (0.91, 1.67) 1.16 (0.84, 1.59)
Posttraumatic stress symptoms For PCL-C scores, in the unadjusted analyses, the complete model showed a significant difference between servicewomen with and without dependent children in PCL-C change from pre- to post-deployment, F(1, 101) = 3.95, p = 0.05. After adjusting for service, rank and age this difference was no longer statistically significant. While the increase in PCL-C scores between pre- and post-deployment was marginally significant for service mothers, there was no significant change for other servicewomen (see Table 8). Table 8: Change in mean PCL-C scores between pre- and post-deployment for servicewomen with and without dependent children Mean PCL-C (95%CI) Mothers Mean PCL-C (95%CI) Other Women Pre Post Change (95% CI) Pre Post Change (95% CI) P-value Unadjusted 21.76 (20.20, 23.32) 22.61 (20.33, 24.88) 3.49 (1.45, 5.52) 20.74 (19.72, 21.76) 19.12 (17.64, 20.61) 1.01 (-.38, 2.41) 0.05 Adjusted Total 19.73 (17.96, 21.49) 23.01 (20.39, 25.64) 3.29 (0.81, 5.77) 20.71 (19.25, 22.16) 21.99 (19.83, 24.15) 1.28 (-.76, 3.32) 0.27 Service 0.12 Air Force 19.38 (17.07, 21.69) 24.28 (20.85, 27.71) 4.90 (1.65, 8.19) 20.41 (18.22, 22.59) 20.09 (16.84, 23.34) -.32 (-3.39, 2.75) Army 19.61 (16.74, 22.47) 21.64 (17.38, 25.90) 2.04 (-1.99, 6.06) 20.44 (18.39, 22.48) 22.81 (19.77, 25.85) 2.37 (-.50, 5.25)
that people close to them faced because they did not perceive these issues to be as important after the experiences that they had while they were deployed. Psychological distress In addition, a number of women reported symptoms of psychological distress, which impacted on their ability to reconnect upon their return: “… I think that after Afghanistan, Afghanistan was probably the worst, the longest for me to recover because I actually ended up having to drive away to a holiday house in the middle of the state and I spent a week by myself before anyone came and joined me because that was more of a struggle. I think after Afghanistan on my very last deployment was when the kids realised that ‘maybe this has affected mum’” participant 1359 In relation to effects on parenting more specifically, a number of mothers described symptoms as interfering with or changing how they parented on return from deployment. “Yeah they were pretty intense they were all over me like a rash and I didn’t cope very well with that and I do remember at one the kids were all over and we were all at home you know boys and girlfriends and things like that were there as well and I had different presents for them … and I handed them out and it was just so noisy and chaotic I just sat there and cried it was just too much.” participant 2155 6.3.6 General Management of Career and Family Commitments In addition to the specific impacts of deployment, a number of more general themes emerged from the interviews, particularly regarding what it means to have a military career, and how this is managed with family life. Positives of working in the military Many women discussed enjoying their military careers despite challenges. Others also reported liking the stability that working in the military provides for them, and suggested that this helped them to manage their career and family commitments: “they try and give you leave over school holidays, they do try… you get the housing, you get removals, you get everything” participant 7100 Career decisions However, despite the positives there was a clear sense that the ability to manage work and family required compromise – on the part of mothers, their spouses and their children. Female veterans engaged in strategic planning when considering the management of career and family, often making conscious decisions to sacrifice career (progression) or family needs/desires in order to achieve this:
Friends Military of command Military Culture Social Spouse Reconnecting Children Dissonance General Life Partner Routines Work life Services and Systems Beneficial services Insufficient services Lack of services for men when mother is deployed Lack of information provision in primary care responsibilities Support for primary care giver at home After of command Colleagues Community Family Friends Organisations School/childcare Spouse Before Chain of command Colleagues Community