East Carolina University : Research and Creative Achievement Week 2011
Meaning and Lived Experiences of Deployment as Perceived by Military Officer Spouses/Partners, Marcy Bitner, Department of Health Education & Promotion, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858 This study addressed the question, “What is the lived experience of and meaning held by military officers‟ spouses/partners regarding multiple, year-long or longer deployments of their active duty military spouse/partner in the post-9/11 era?” A literature review indicated a paucity of information about this relatively new phenomenon and indicated that the impact on spouses/partners warranted investigation. Study findings provide insight for health professionals about stressors experienced and coping mechanisms used by military officer wives/partners who are parents and who had experienced at least two deployments of at least one year in duration. The findings afford an indepth understanding of the complex and emerging issues faced by these individuals. The researcher used Max van Manen‟s approach to hermeneutic phenomenology to guide the study. This approach focused on employing individuals‟ reflections on their experiences in order to reach an understanding of the deeper meaning of the experience. The researcher used two primary methods of data collection: a) audio recorded in-depth, open-ended interviews with handwritten field notes taken during each interview, and b) letters written by each participant to a theoretical other partner or spouse of a frequently deployed military officer. The researcher used purposive sampling to recruit seven participants who had been military officer spouses for between five and seventeen years and who experienced between two and six spousal/partner deployments. Strategies to address study credibility included methodological congruence, triangulation, thick description, prolonged engagement in the field, continuing search for disconfirming evidence, verbatim transcription, engagement in reflexivity, maintenance of an audit trail, and data saturation. Data were coded and analyzed for patterns and themes in an effort to identify the essence of participants‟ lived experience. The researcher will present the findings associated with the study.
Graduate Oral Presentation Abstracts
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Always a Bigger Fish - The influence of size and habitat on the feeding habits of spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) in North Carolina waters, Charles Bangley, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858 The spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) is a small shark that overwinters in large numbers in the coastal waters of North Carolina. Spiny dogfish are generalist predators and the majority of their diet is made up of teleost fishes. There is interest in the feeding habits of spiny dogfish due to suspicion of these sharks preying upon and competitively excluding species important to commercial and recreational fisheries. Stomach contents, size, and sex data were collected from 399 spiny dogfish sampled in North Carolina waters during the months of February and March, 2010. Data on depth, water temperature, and the abundance of other species were also collected from each 67
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