You’ve seen the heartwarming images of U.S. military service members returning home from overseas deployments, but what happens in the aftermath? How do military families communicate during the potentially challenging transition to a new normal?

Leanne Knobloch, professor of communication, studies the transition from deployment to reunion, and how military couples and their families interact during this key juncture in their lives.

Her current project is funded by the U.S. Military Operational Medicine Research Program, which awards grants to support scientific research designed to improve the health of service members and their families. Knobloch and her team are studying 500 returning service members and at-home partners who are making the transition from deployment to reunion.

To read more about this project, check out the writeup from the Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences here.

To learn more about how to study communication within families and relationships, check out our "Interpersonal Communication" area of study, which is offered at the Undergraduate and Graduate level.