Exploring Higher Rates of Breastfeeding Among Civilian Military Wives: A Mixed Methods Study

Background: As compared to the United States general postpartum population, civilian military wives encounter unique challenges that can impede their ability to breastfeed, including geographic replacement and physical and emotional challenges. Yet despite these challenges, civilian military wives demonstrate higher rates of breastfeeding initiation and duration in the United States postpartum population as a whole. The purpose of this study was to explore factors contributing to the high rate of breastfeeding initiation and duration among civilian military wives and to determine what might be learned from these factors for intervention design for the broader population of postpartum mothers. Methods: The sample consisted of 28 civilian military wives whose ages ranged from 18-45. The study was conducted online using a concurrent mixed-methods design. Results: Seven main themes with 16 subthemes emerged from the descriptions of the semi-structured interviews. The results of the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form score was 55.2 (SD = 5.73). The results of the integrative analysis revealed that factors within the military environment influence a sense of community, thus supporting their breastfeeding self-efficacy (BSE). Additionally, supportive and pro-breastfeeding healthcare facilitators (especially lactation consultants) throughout the prenatal, intrapartum, and postpartum periods described by civilian military wives were associated with high levels of breastfeeding self-efficacy among civilian military wives. Moreover, high levels of breastfeeding self-efficacy related to breastfeeding skills and duration were associated with the accessibility of resources within the military environment, breastfeeding health and economic benefits, and setting of a breastfeeding goal. Conclusions: Using a concurrent mixed-methods design, this study identified facilitators from the descriptions of civilian military wives that they believed promote their higher rates of breastfeeding initiation and continuation, quantified their high level of breastfeeding self-efficacy, and identified descriptive factors that contributed to both areas lacking in the literature among this population.

Sovereign Wives? An Emotional Politics of Precarity and Resistance in the UK's Military Wives Choir

This article provides a feminist analysis of the politics of vulnerability and resistance at work in the UK's Military Wives Choir. Military spouses represent vulnerable and “militarized subjects,” providing countless forms of unpaid labor in service of the military that range from the material labor of childcare to representational work in popular culture and everyday life. And yet as scholars of critical military studies and international politics, we so often fall short in our exploration of how military spouses engage with the militaristic processes in which they are embroiled. Indeed, work on the critical and resistant capacity of military wives as political agents is in particularly short supply. This article will use the example of the Military Wives Choir to argue that rather than seeing military wives simply as vulnerable militarized subjects without the capacity for resistance, it is in and through this vulnerability that the possibility of resistance can appear. As such, this work speaks to broader questions regarding the sites in which militarization occurs; even the most militarized of spaces and bodies do not necessarily only provide the preconditions for the emergence of military power. Rather, there is always the possibility for something more.

Resiliensi Istri Tentara (TNI-AD) Yang Tinggal di Asrama Ketika Suami Bertugas di Daerah Konflik

Separated from husbands because of their assignment is not easy for the wives, many problems that will be faced by the wives related to changes of roles and responsibilities in the family. Resilience is needed by the military wives in facing many problems, so that they can live well. This is a qualitative research with an interpretive phenomenological approach. Data was collected by in-depth interviews with 6 participants, namely the military wives in accordance with the research criteria. The research results were analyzed using IPA (Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis) This study produced 6 themes, namely: understanding the husband's assignment, feeling proud but worried when the husbands were on duty, facing sorrow as military wives, difficulty in replacing the fathers’ roles in caring for children, trying to find support, adapting to difficult conditions. The six themes finally rise to one big theme, namely the resilience of military wives to be able to achieve family stability. Based on this study, it can be concluded that the main requirements for people to survive any problems in their life is the resilience. Resilience is formed by 3 things: I am (individual factor), I have (support) and I can (ability possessed)