Young children's understanding of military family life: Co-creating educational and therapeutic resources using children's voices

Abstract

Young children from military families often struggle to comprehend the changes occurring within their households due to parental training and deployment. This paper (a) presents children's understandings of their experiences in Australian military families in a study, and then (b) provides an example of how we used children's voices to co-create free psychosocial resources to better support this cohort, which can be employed by those working with these families. A participatory Mosaic Approach was employed to capture the voices of 19 young children. Inductive thematic analysis viewed through a socio-cultural lens revealed that children's understandings can be improved through educational activities using age-appropriate and culturally relevant resources, encouraging discussions and educational activities. These findings are significant as they capture and amplify the voices of young children in military families. This served as a catalyst for a co-creation project, resulting in a suite of psychosocial resources based on these findings and other lived experience narratives, relevant literature, and the insights of those who assist these families. These free online resources allow these children to thrive rather than merely survive. This will interest military family researchers, policymakers within military organizations, and those supporting these families.