Promoting Welfare Support for Armed Forces Reservists' Families and Community

The purpose of the current research is to identify the welfare and support requirements of Reservists’ Families. We would like to better understand these requirements by asking about views, opinions, and experiences from these families. The findings will allow us to compare needs against the current provision, to identify gaps, and to make recommendations about supporting Reservists Families’ needs, as well as identifying areas for further research. This is not just about welfare support to families during deployment, but also day to day welfare and support services. 

This study aims to make clear the perspectives and interpretative frameworks that inform families' understanding and utilisation of the available support provisions. The study also aims to understand the challenges experienced by Reservists’ Families, how they access and use welfare support provision, which needs to be subject to rigorous evaluation along with acceptance that where gaps exist these need to be explored. This will enable a clearer understanding of Armed Forces Reservists' Families lived experiences. Benefits for the Armed Forces Reservists’ Families community that are expected from this study, include awareness, access, and use of welfare support provision. The study results may also inform policy makers to rethink the effectiveness of current provision following recommendations by the research team. There may also be an opportunity to share the results to a wider audience through publication.

Following a systematic review with narrative synthesis and exploring existing literature, along with evidence from a current survey of lived experiences, this study aims to make clear the perspectives and interpretative frameworks that inform families' understanding and utilisation of the available support provisions. The study also aims to understand the challenges experienced by Reservists’ Families, how they access and use welfare support provision, which needs to be subject to rigorous evaluation along with acceptance that where gaps exist, these need to be explored. Interviews will be conducted later in the study and evidence from the findings will help to build a meaningful framework to understand Armed Forces Reservists' Families lived experiences. 

How do we better understanding the quality of life that families experience during absence of their Reservist, including daily activities such as child care and household living, and any challenges with communication between families, their Reservist and the Military?

Armed Forces Reservists' Families. The families of UK Armed Forces Reservists’ include spouses, partners, civil partners, children, parents, and other relatives.
Target for recruitment = 500