The Problems and Needs of the Families of Antiterrorist Operation Participants: Results of In-depth Interviews (original) (raw)

2019, The New Educational Review

The article explores the key issues and needs of families of participants in anti-terrorist operation (ATO). The article defines and characterizes several types of families of ATO participants, who took part in an interview. Based on in-depth interviews and further analysis, the authors identified four categories of problems of these families, e.g., psychological, financial, legal, and problems with raising children. It was determined that violations of the life of the families whose members were ATO participants were caused not only by family-specific problems but also by several other factors. Based on the identified specific problems, the authors identified the main needs of the families of the members of antiterrorist operations. Keywords: families of participants of anti-terrorist operation (ATO), psychological problems, financial problems, problems with paperwork, problems with the upbringing of children, needs of family members of ATO participants Research problem and Focus A number of foreign social scientists (J. Judy, J. Cooper, M. Chartrand, D. Frank, T. Shope, J. Mancini) has studied the consequences of the stay of a family member in a war zone, noting that family members of combatants are in a stressful situation during the stay of one of the family member in the war zone and are exposed to negative impacts. Several foreign researchers (C. Taylor, M. Ross, J. Wood, G. Harb, K. Lynch, D. Rubin, 2015) argue that both children and adults who are the family members of combatants have problems during the absence of their fathers. Children adopt more risky behavior, become more aggressive, disobedient, and early begin to assert themselves. The researchers also noted that children are at high risk even after the returning of their fathers, which is indicated by the increase in stress in families during the stay of combatants in the war zone and after their return home. This is also the opinion of another foreign researcher, J. Buehrle (2014), who notes that school-age children whose parents are in the war zone are more likely to of develop behavioral problems. In addition to the research, the author argues that a family member's stay in the area of military conflict has a negative impact on the career of the other the spouse, because they are in constant stress, anxiety, and are forced to fulfil all the requirements of the family. According to other studies (K. Iverson, D. Vogt, M. Dichter, S. Lou, 2015), the wives of war veterans exposed to sexual violence from men have post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and other mental health disorders. There are other studies of post-traumatic stress disorder in individuals exposed to military trauma (I.