Research project in Social work funded during 2013 – 2015 by Swedish Armed Forces and Kristianstad University following 30 families of Swedish soldiers and officers participating in a contingent in the northern Afghanistan.
This action research study explores the solutions narrated by soldiers, families and parents/relatives in connection with deployment to and readiness to participate in world wide peacekeeping operations. The study design is based on following a contingent in the situation prior to, during and after deployment. The design is open. Data from persons who have participated in other contingents are also collected. Sampling uses a mixed model, which involves interviews, participation in meetings and other actions. Soldiers and soldier’s relatives have been and are invited to participate in dialogical interviews, re-narrating and co-creating narratives about their experiences so far and orientation in how to go on. So far, 120 persons have been interviewed including 15 children. The analysis of the data is in its preliminary stages. Further inquiry needs to be done to reveal in more details how social support and the emergent strategies of the families and of the individual family members align themselves in face of the presence of deployment. More exploration is especially needed with regards to the voice of the children.