Abstract Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric condition that greatly impacts service members in the United States military. Typically, service members develop PTSD following a trauma during a combat deployment, but military sexual assault is also another commonly occurring trauma for this population. Due to the symptomatology of PTSD, multiple aspects of the service members' lives may be negatively impacted. Consequently, children may experience negative effects in response to their parent's PTSD, which may manifest as psychological, behavioral, developmental, and/or educational concerns. One option available to address these concerns among military children is utilizing bibliotherapy, which is a therapeutic approach that uses books. However, with over 12 children's books on the topic of parental PTSD in the military, it may be difficult for parents to identify the most appropriate book. To conduct an in-depth evaluation of the available children's books about parental PTSD in the military, a content analysis was utilized. Specifically, the analysis examined book qualities that previous research has demonstrated to be important when selecting a book for bibliotherapy with a child from a military family. It was hypothesized that results from the content analysis would demonstrate limitations among the available books, which was supported. Thus, a new children's book about parental PTSD in the military was created.
展开▼
