“Resilience is expected in the Forces”. A qualitative study to explore what military veterans understand resilience to mean.

Background: There is minimal research into resilience with military veterans, including any role played in facilitating the ability to resist adverse outcomes after exposure to trauma. Resilience as a construct is debated within the psychological literature with little agreement as to what resilience might be, how best to conceptualise it, and therefore how to measure it or best design interventions to promote it. The present study seeks to answer the broad question “what do veterans understand resilience to mean?” seeking to further elucidate resilience as a construct, and how it impacts the health and wellbeing of veterans in ways they deem relevant. Method: A qualitative research paradigm was chosen for this study with co-production with veterans-by-experience in the planning, design, data collection and analysis. Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six stage method of thematic analysis, was utilised to analyse semi-structured interviews with sixteen military veterans, who had completed at least one day of active service. This included non-combat related deployments, for example ‘peace-keeping’ missions. Results: Themes were developed according to what veterans understood by resilience, how it developed, and the impact of being a military veteran in this process. Veterans indicated that their experiences of resilience were those of being adaptable in face of adversity. Further themes concentrated on this adaptability as a process that developed over time, and two subthemes highlighted the influence of group identity and membership on resilience, with resilience identified as part of the military identity. Discussion: The findings locate individual experiences within existing theoretical models of resilience, and examine the broader sociocultural context of the military. Clinical implications are framed within systemic considerations and sociocultural factors such as how group identity and membership impact access and ability to use resources required to ‘be resilient’ in the face of the adversities experienced by military veterans.