Readiness, resilience, and readjustment: a psychological investigation of human factors across the deployment cycle of contemporary peace support operations
Date
2008
Authors
Murphy, Peter Joseph
Editors
Advisors
Nettelbeck, Theodore John
Fogarty, Gerard
Fogarty, Gerard
Journal Title
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Thesis
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Abstract
Contemporary peacekeeping missions are complex, demanding,
and potentially hazardous. There is general agreement that psychological
factors are crucial to effective individual and collective performance of the
military personnel deployed in support of these missions. This research has
examined the human dimensions associated with capability, functioning, and
health across the deployment cycle. The aim of this research was to
increase understanding of the psychological issues associated with peace
support operations at the individual, group, and organisational levels. The
study applied precepts of the transactional model of stress (Lazarus &
Folkman, 1984) to the context of military deployment on peace support
operations. The overarching Human Dimensions of Operations model for
this research incorporated stressor, buffer, and outcome components within
the multi-level structure of the military organisation and across the stages
(pre, peri, post) of deployment.
Participants were Canadian and Australian military personnel
deployed on Peace Support Operations. The dissertation comprised seven
chapters. Chapter One provided an introduction to the psychological
challenges posed by peace support operations and the research
opportunities these missions afford. The second chapter detailed the
methodology and psychometric evaluation of several measurement scales
that were developed as part of this research in order to address the unique
characteristics of peace support operations. Each of the six scales examined
proved to have a meaningful component structure and adequate subscale
reliabilities. The third chapter was devoted to an examination of the
psychometric properties of a measure of psychological climate factors, the
Unit Climate Profile (UCP), which was the cornerstone instrument of this
research. The UCP demonstrated a robust, multi-dimensional structure that was conceptually concordant with its theoretical development and design.
In addition, the component structure of the UCP changed in meaningful
ways according to its level of analysis - individual or group.
The next three chapters examined human dimension constructs at
different stages of deployment, notably psychological readiness for
operations, psychological resilience during deployment, and readjustment
following return from deployment. In Chapter Four, the most compelling
structural model that examined collective psychological readiness
demonstrated that perceptions of readiness at the group level, along with
effective senior leadership, could significantly impact morale. The results in
Chapter Five revealed that leadership both buffered the immediate impact
of stressors, and also fostered meaning and morale, thereby reducing strain.
Positive aspects of deployment and the personal meaning assumed to be
derived from these experiences were also found to bolster morale
significantly during deployment. In Chapter Six, the stressors specific to the
postdeployment transition phase, rather than stressors encountered during
deployment, had the strongest impact on postdeployment adjustment.
Social support and a positive psychological climate in the unit (particularly
evidenced by cohesiveness and caring behaviour by proximal leaders)
moderated the impact of homecoming stressors.
A concluding chapter summarised the dissertation and discussed
its practical significance and avenues for the dissemination of its findings.
Broadly, the outcomes demonstrated that an understanding of the human
factors in military units within the context of the stressors-strain
relationship can provide potentially useful information to commanders who
want to enhance the well-being, performance, and commitment of Service
members deployed on peace support operations.
School/Discipline
School of Psychology
Dissertation Note
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- School of Psychology, 2008
Provenance
Copyright material removed from digital thesis. See print copy in University of Adelaide Library for full text.