Addressing the Needs of Families of Wounded Warriors: Enhancing the Role of Occupational Therapy

Many physical injuries of war, such as facial disfigurement and loss of limbs, are visible. Other physical and emotional injuries that occur as a result of combat may be less immediately apparent, but the effects on the injured military service member and his or her family are no less debilitating. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are the most frequently occurring "invisible" injuries among military service members and veterans (Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center [DVBIC], 2014). Each of these conditions may be accompanied by emotional, behavioral, and cognitive problems, including panic disorder, depression, and headaches (Kennedy et al., 2007; Koren, Norman, Cohen, Berman, & Klein, 2005). Also, the effects of physical injury, PTSD, and TBI can severely disrupt relationships within the family (Cozza & Guimond, 2011). Since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom (which began March 19, 2003 and officially ended on August 31, 2010) and Operation Enduring Freedom (which has been ongoing since October 7, 2001), there have been at least 51,812 wounded-inaction types of injuries to military service members as of June 27, 2014 (Defense Casualty Analysis System [DCAS], 2014). Exposure to explosive devices in a combat zone accounts for more than three-quarters of these physical injuries, followed by gunshot wounds and other projectile injuries. According to the DVBIC (2014), from 2000 to the first quarter of 2013, there were 273,859 TBIs among U.S. military service members. Of these, the overall majority is classified as mild TBI (mTBI). Keywords military spouses and children, occupational challenges