How Do Male Military Veterans Cope With Psychological Difficulties? V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
How do Male Military Veterans Cope with Psychological Difficulties?
IRAS ID
150391
Contact name
James McGuire
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Liverpool
Research summary
This study aims to gain an insight into how male military veterans in North West England cope with psychological difficulties from their own perspective. There has been growing awareness and research into the impact that serving in the armed forces could have on a person’s mental health including such topics as coping, because how a person copes with psychological difficulties can have a large impact on their everyday life and those around them. The veterans who participate in this research will at some point have accessed the North West’s Military Veteran IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) Service, which operates out of Bury, Greater Manchester, and this is where they will be recruited from. Veterans may access this service due to wanting support for a range of difficulties including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance misuse, relationship difficulties and bereavement. Q methodology will be used for this study which involves two stages. The first stage involves the researcher interviewing a range of people from different backgrounds related to veterans and veteran support about how veterans cope. These people will include veterans themselves, health care professionals working with veterans, military personnel involved in transitioning back in the community and people associated with veterans’ charities. From these interviews statements will be recorded and then these will be synthesized into a manageable number of around 40-80 that represent viewpoints and themes from the interviews. In stage two those veterans who choose to participate will be asked to sort and rank the statements into those they agree with most and least on a scale. All the rankings will be entered into a computer program that will combine the results and these will be interpreted in an attempt to explain the stories expressed by each set of responses.
REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/NW/0356
Date of REC Opinion
11 Jun 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion