Family Psychoeducation for Military Veterans: A Pilot Study

Canadian Armed Forces veterans and their family members will be recruited to participate in this pilot virtual psychoeducation program and its evaluation. Two six-week sessions will be implemented over a virtual care platform (Zoom for healthcare) based out of OSI Clinic in Atlantic Canada - the first in January/February of 2021 and the second in the spring of 2021. A maximum of 10-15 participants (including both veterans and their family members) will be recruited for each group. Family members are defined as spouses/partners, siblings, parents, and adult children. Each of the weekly sessions will take place virtually and will be led by at least two trained facilitators (one from the research team, and one member of the OSI clinical staff team). Each of these sessions will focus on providing education of different topics relevant to those accessing services at the clinic (e.g., types of treatments available, tools to support families, self care, etc.).

At the end of each six-week session, program outcomes will be assessed qualitatively by a member of the research team. Participants will take part in semi-structured interviews guided by questions informed by the ecological family systems theory.