What Are the Barriers to Reaching Forces Families and to Evaluating the Impact of Working with Them?: Assessing the effectiveness of Reading Force, a programme to promote shared reading within the Forces community

Abstract

This paper builds on a previous paper in this journal (Baverstock, Logos 24 (3), 2013) which covered the establishment of Reading Force, a shared-reading initiative to promote improved communication between members of British Armed Forces families and to help mitigate the particular difficulties of service life. It begins by considering the range of difficulties experienced by Forces families and the literature associated with their effective management and support. It then considers the various means of communication with Forces families and associated opportunities and barriers. It examines how project effectiveness was assessed, and why accessing data and hence precise analysis have proven difficult, and considers other methods of estimating outcomes. Finally, prospects for future project development are considered.