title: Operation BRAVE families: A preventive approach to lessening the impact of war on military families through preclinical engagement.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Operation Building Resilience and Valuing Empowered Families (OBF) is a preventive, preclinical program that was developed by the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center's Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Service to form a working partnership with families of wounded warrior parents from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The OBF staff helps to identify the families' needs and collaborates with many organizations at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to provide assistance. This article describes OBF, offers a case description, reviews current preventive programs for children exposed to trauma and disaster, and compares and contrasts OBF to these programs.
  
  
  METHODS
  A literature review was performed, searching Ovid MEDLINE for keywords, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, child and adolescent, family, prevention, and disaster.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There are an increasing number of preventive programs for children and adolescents throughout the country, especially over the past 10 years. These programs build upon past prevention models. There are few services that offer primary prevention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  OBF is a military treatment facility-focused preventive program that can serve as a program model for other military treatment facilities and civilian hospitals with the mandate to care for the family members and children of parents who are trauma victims and require long-term care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, 8901 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20889-5600, USA.
authors.forename: Ryan C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Ryo Sook
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Chun
authors.forename: Robin L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Michael
authors.forename: Brett J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Schneider
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D005192:Family Health; D006801:Humans; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008889:Military Personnel; D011322:Primary Prevention; D012944:Social Support; D014857:Warfare; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000523:psychology