Prepared to Serve: Evaluating Two Interventions Promoting Readiness Among Service Members and the Helping Professionals Who Serve Them

Abstract

The social organization theory of action and change (Mancini et al., 2005) highlights the role of community service organizations and social processes in promoting adaptability and well-being within communities. Support for families may be implemented directly (e.g., direct service provision or programming) or indirectly (e.g., enhancing direct services). Grounded in the Kirkpatrick training evaluation model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016), this dissertation study explored the impact of two trainings—one a direct support and the other an indirect support—that aimed to promote Service member and family readiness. Study 1 examined the impact of the Department of the Air Force’s Personal Financial Readiness Program among active-duty and National Guard and Reserve Airmen and Guardians between 2020 and 2022. Specifically, evaluation efforts focused on the permanent change of station training (N = 3,495). Guided by the Kirkpatrick model, this study evaluated program impacts and examined sequential associations among reactions, learning, and behavior intent. The results of latent change score modeling indicated that Airmen reported favorable reactions to the training and demonstrated gains in their financial knowledge and financial behavior intent. Further, the association between reactions and learning was supported, while the association between learning and behavior intent was only partially supported. Study 2 examined the impact of a mobile application-based military cultural competence training for helping professionals. Qualitative data were collected via in-depth individual interviews with 36 helping professionals who completed the 8-week training. Directed qualitative content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) was conducted via the Kirkpatrick framework to uncover themes related to participants’ perceived learning, behavior change, and overall results following their training experience. In general, participants reported learning more about military culture, feeling prepared to implement culturally competent and evidence-informed practice, engaging in such practice, and observing positive impacts on their clients. Together, these studies demonstrated evidence of the impact of trainings designed to support military families, whether directly or indirectly. This dissertation also reveals the utility of the Kirkpatrick training evaluation model in examining the impact of programming delivered in a community context. These studies may inform direct and indirect supports to promote Service member and family readiness.