The use of physical activity to enhance the mental wellbeing and resilience of military veterans

我的博士学位探索了英国皇家空军人员的社会和心理韧性的发展。该项目调查了员工的社会认同感和团队凝聚感如何影响他们的韧性。我的研究包括三个独立的研究。研究1讨论了人们所属的社会群体如何影响他们的复原力。来自18个基地的243人创建了一张社会身份地图，描绘了他们所属的社会群体，这些群体对他们意味着什么，以及这些群体之间的关系。这项研究表明，人们所属的积极群体越多，他们的韧性就越强。研究还表明，团队成员对工作团队的凝聚感越高，他们的复原力就越强。研究2探索了英国皇家空军人员与工作团队的团结感以及他们与直属经理的关系是如何影响他们的韧性的，包括随着时间的推移。工作人员两次完成在线问卷调查，间隔6个月。1053名人员完成了第一份问卷，386名人员进行了第二份问卷调查。这项研究还表明，工作人员对工作团队的团结与他们在当前和长期的韧性之间存在联系。在研究3中，我开发了一个创新的“弹性领先”计划，在3个英国皇家空军团队(总共280人)上进行了测试。该方案旨在增加团队成员作为一个团队的凝聚感。由于国家Covid封锁，3个团队中只有1个团队完成了所有3个研讨会和3个月的跟踪调查。在研讨会期间，团队共同创建了一套价值观，确定了一致的行为，建立了团队愿景，并制定了行动计划。研究表明，该计划增强了团队成员对他们团队的团结感。因此，我的研究为我们所属的社会群体如何塑造我们的韧性，以及如何通过加深团队内的凝聚力来培养韧性提供了一个新的视角。在博士期间，我还领导了一个由拉夫堡大学、武装部队慈善机构、地方当局和NHS组成的财团，成功地从武装部队圣约信托基金获得了7万GB的赠款，以我的研究为基础，资助了一系列针对退伍军人的复原力课程。为期5天的住宿课程将于2022年4月在拉夫堡大学举行，并将进一步为我的奖学金的活动提供信息。在这次奖学金期间，我将：1.在针对学术受众的高级期刊上发表四篇同行评议的文章。创建面向非学术和更广泛受众的出版物。这将包括编写一份研究报告，以传达退伍军人方案和我的其他研究的结果，这引起了国家和地方媒体的兴趣，以向国防部关于退伍军人精神健康的社会政策提供信息。3.将我的研究扩展到其他人群。这将包括探索与拉夫堡闪电足球协会开展进一步有限研究的可能性，并与国家康复中心合作，目前正在当地与拉夫堡大学合作，为平民患者制定潜在的社会复原力干预措施。这项研究将把我的参与者样本扩大到军队以外，并将包括精英运动员和NHS患者，帮助验证我在体育和医疗保健部门的研究。4.在团契之外继续我的研究。这将包括向国家彩票提交资金提案，以提升退伍军人复原力计划的水平，包括将该计划扩展到英国其他地区；向ESRC(新调查人员拨款)提交资金提案，以将我对复原力的研究扩展到军队以外，以确保它对其他人群有效。

My PhD explored the development of social and psychological resilience of RAF personnel. The project investigated how personnel's social identities, and sense of togetherness as a team, influenced their resilience. My research comprised three separate studies. Study 1 discussed how the social groups that people belonged to influenced their resilience. 243 people from 18 bases created a social identity map depicting the social groups that they belonged to, what these groups meant to them, and how the groups related to each other. The study suggested that the more positive groups that people belonged to the higher their resilience. The study also indicated that the higher the sense of togetherness that team members felt towards their work team the higher their resilience. Study 2 explored how RAF personnel's sense of togetherness with their work team and their relationships with their line manager interplayed with their resilience, including over time. Personnel twice completed an online questionnaire, 6-months apart. With 1,053 personnel completing the first questionnaire, and 386 personnel undertaking the second questionnaire. The research also showed a link between the unity the personnel felt towards their work team and their resilience both in the present and over time. For Study 3, I developed an innovative 'Leading for Resilience' programme that was tested on 3 RAF teams (280 people in total). The programme was designed to increase the team member's feeling of togetherness as a team. Due to the national Covid lockdown, only one of the 3 teams completed all 3 workshops and a 3-month follow-up. During the workshops, the teams co-created a set of values, identified congruent behaviours, established a team vision, and set up an action plan. The research indicated that the programme enhanced the sense of togetherness that the team members felt towards their team. As such, my research provided a novel perspective on how the social groups we belong to shape our resilience, and how resilience can be developed through deepening the sense of cohesion within a team. During my PhD, I also led a consortium comprising Loughborough University, armed forces charities, local authorities, and the NHS, to successfully bid for a £70,000 grant from the Armed Forces Covenant Trust, to fund a series of resilience courses, based on my research, for military veterans. The 5-day residential courses are due to take place at Loughborough University in April 2022 and will further inform the activities of my Fellowship.During this Fellowship, I will: 1. Produce four peer-reviewed articles in high-ranking journals targeting academic audiences.2. Create publications targeting non-academic and wider audiences. This will include compiling a research report to communicate the results of the Veterans' Programme and my other research, which has attracted interest from national and local media outlets, to inform social policy of the Ministry of Defence concerning the mental wellbeing of veterans. 3. Extend my research to other populations. This will include exploring the possibility of undertaking further limited research with the Football Association, Loughborough Lightning, and working with the National Rehabilitation Centre, currently being developed locally to Loughborough University, to develop potential social resilience interventions for civilian patients. This research will extend my sample of participants beyond the military, and will include elite athletes and NHS patients, helping to validate my research within sport and the healthcare sectors. 4. Continue my research beyond the Fellowship. This will include submitting funding proposals to the National Lottery to upscale the Veterans' Resilience Programme, including extending the programme to other regions of the UK; and to the ESRC (New Investigator Grant) to extend my research in resilience to beyond the military, to ensure that it is effective with other populations.