TY - JOUR
T1 - A good war? Exploring British veterans’ moral evaluation of deployment.
AU - Burnell, Karen
AU - Boyce, Niall
AU - Hunt, Nigel
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Historically, war trauma research has concentrated on the relationship between level of exposure and development of post-traumatic symptoms. More recently, it has been recognized that intra- and inter- personal differences can mediate how service personnel are affected by their experiences. This paper is a qualitative study exploring moral evaluations of 30 British male veterans towards their deployment in conflicts from WWII to the most recent Iraq War (2003–2009). Retrospective thematic analysis is used to explore moral evaluation and societal support. Four categories emerged based on veterans’ moral evaluation of deployment: justifiable, implicitly justifiable, unclear, and unjustifiable. Analysis revealed broad differences between these groups. Veterans able to justify their experiences reported more posi- tive aspects of both deployment and societal support than those unable to justify their deployment. These findings make clear the importance of future research exploring the interactions between civilians and service personnel, and the impact this has on mental health
AB - Historically, war trauma research has concentrated on the relationship between level of exposure and development of post-traumatic symptoms. More recently, it has been recognized that intra- and inter- personal differences can mediate how service personnel are affected by their experiences. This paper is a qualitative study exploring moral evaluations of 30 British male veterans towards their deployment in conflicts from WWII to the most recent Iraq War (2003–2009). Retrospective thematic analysis is used to explore moral evaluation and societal support. Four categories emerged based on veterans’ moral evaluation of deployment: justifiable, implicitly justifiable, unclear, and unjustifiable. Analysis revealed broad differences between these groups. Veterans able to justify their experiences reported more posi- tive aspects of both deployment and societal support than those unable to justify their deployment. These findings make clear the importance of future research exploring the interactions between civilians and service personnel, and the impact this has on mental health
U2 - 10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.07.003
DO - 10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.07.003
M3 - Article
SN - 0887-6185
VL - 25
SP - 36
EP - 42
JO - Journal of Anxiety Disorders
JF - Journal of Anxiety Disorders
IS - 1
ER -