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

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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.