Modeling the future: A new approach to military community health through community health councils

In the most recent decade, the military has undergone significant social, organizational and operational changes as it has significantly downsized personnel levels and has increased its operational tempo in world-wide peacetime operations. Healthy military members and their families are now seen as a key force multiplier. In response to these changes, a renewed interest has emerged in the importance of the status and function of the military community as a system of social care for military members and their families. Population health efforts and their focus on the social determinants of health have transformed the traditional illness-centered medical model of health into a more salutogenic or health-focused model of community health. Under the direction of a military line commander, a multidisciplinary community team formed to assess community health issues and introduce interventions to rove community well-being. This dissertation documents and assesses their team process and suggests a model for Department of Defense-wide community health councils.; The researcher actively participated on the community health process action team as a research advisor, training facilitator and survey assessor. Their process was documented and a retrospective multivariate analysis was conducted of their commander's community survey.; Among the key findings of this study were that the mental health well-being of those active duty personnel who participated in a key community intervention was significantly higher than those active duty personnel in the community who did not participate. Over 63 percent of those who attended a family communications intervention course said it improved their life, 38 percent said it improved their mental health and 69 percent said it improved their relationship with their spouse or significant other.; A community health council concept is a successful way to build community capacity, empower multidisciplinary stakeholders within a military community and redefine a system of social care outside of the dated illness-centered medical model of health to improve the well-being of our military communities.