Readiness, resilience, and readjustment: a psychological investigation of human factors across the deployment cycle of contemporary peace support operations
Year: 2008
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Contemporary peacekeeping missions are complex, demanding, \nand potentially hazardous. There is general agreement that psychological \nfactors are crucial to effective individual and collective performance of the \nmilitary personnel deployed in support of these missions. This research has \nexamined the human dimensions associated with capability, functioning, and \nhealth across the deployment cycle. The aim of this research was to \nincrease understanding of the psychological issues associated with peace \nsupport operations at the individual, group, and organisational levels. The \nstudy applied precepts of the transactional model of stress (Lazarus & \nFolkman, 1984) to the context of military deployment on peace support \noperations. The overarching Human Dimensions of Operations model for \nthis research incorporated stressor, buffer, and outcome components within \nthe multi-level structure of the military organisation and across the stages \n(pre, peri, post) of deployment. \nParticipants were Canadian and Australian military personnel \ndeployed on Peace Support Operations. The dissertation comprised seven \nchapters. Chapter One provided an introduction to the psychological \nchallenges posed by peace support operations and the research \nopportunities these missions afford. The second chapter detailed the \nmethodology and psychometric evaluation of several measurement scales \nthat were developed as part of this research in order to address the unique \ncharacteristics of peace support operations. Each of the six scales examined \nproved to have a meaningful component structure and adequate subscale \nreliabilities. The third chapter was devoted to an examination of the \npsychometric properties of a measure of psychological climate factors, the \nUnit Climate Profile (UCP), which was the cornerstone instrument of this \nresearch. The UCP demonstrated a robust, multi-dimensional structure that was conceptually concordant with its theoretical development and design. \nIn addition, the component structure of the UCP changed in meaningful \nways according to its level of analysis - individual or group. \nThe next three chapters examined human dimension constructs at \ndifferent stages of deployment, notably psychological readiness for \noperations, psychological resilience during deployment, and readjustment \nfollowing return from deployment. In Chapter Four, the most compelling \nstructural model that examined collective psychological readiness \ndemonstrated that perceptions of readiness at the group level, along with \neffective senior leadership, could significantly impact morale. The results in \nChapter Five revealed that leadership both buffered the immediate impact \nof stressors, and also fostered meaning and morale, thereby reducing strain. \nPositive aspects of deployment and the personal meaning assumed to be \nderived from these experiences were also found to bolster morale \nsignificantly during deployment. In Chapter Six, the stressors specific to the \npostdeployment transition phase, rather than stressors encountered during \ndeployment, had the strongest impact on postdeployment adjustment. \nSocial support and a positive psychological climate in the unit (particularly \nevidenced by cohesiveness and caring behaviour by proximal leaders) \nmoderated the impact of homecoming stressors. \nA concluding chapter summarised the dissertation and discussed \nits practical significance and avenues for the dissemination of its findings. \nBroadly, the outcomes demonstrated that an understanding of the human \nfactors in military units within the context of the stressors-strain \nrelationship can provide potentially useful information to commanders who \nwant to enhance the well-being, performance, and commitment of Service \nmembers deployed on peace support operations.
Author: Peter Joseph Murphy
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2286795831