Ambiguous absence, ambiguous presence: a qualitative study of military reserve families in wartime.

The "Global War on Terrorism" has resulted in reservists being deployed at an ever-increasing rate. However, because reservists and their families are unaccustomed to deployments, many families may experience boundary ambiguity, a state in which family members are uncertain in their perception about who is in or out of the family and who is performing which roles and tasks within the family. This qualitative description study examined boundary ambiguity in military reserve families over time.