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Past research has identified a number of factors that may pro- resilience from the insiders’ (i.e., the SOF members’) viewpoint
mote resilience among military personnel. At the individual and in the participants’ own words. In-depth semistructured
level, military research has linked many personal character- interviews were used to elicit qualitative data in line with the
istics to resilience, including conscientiousness and emotional research objective and to allow flexibility to adapt and adjust
stability, hardiness, self-efficacy, optimism, humor, self- questions to better fit the narrative of the respondents. All in-
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worth, confidence, and physical fitness, among others (see terviews were conducted by a researcher trained in qualitative
reference 14 for review). In addition, research suggests SOF interview techniques. Given security constraints, interviews
operators present a psychological profile characterized by could not be audio recorded. A note-taker captured the con-
hardiness, greater social adjustment, greater emotional sta- tent of the qualitative interviews.
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bility, 16,17 and greater self-confidence and self-esteem, which
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is strongly in line with personal characteristics found to be The set of questions and additional exploratory prompts
linked with resilience in military populations. were based on scientific literature on resilience and the
social- ecological framework and designed by the researchers
At the interpersonal level, positive social interactions and in collaboration with subject matter experts, including the
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teamwork, cohesion, and commitment have been identified CANSOFCOM chief psychologist. Qualitative studies are
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as social-level resilience characteristics. Within the SOF com- less theoretical, and usually researchers are not committed
munity, job satisfaction and unit cohesion have been identified to a specific theory or framework. As such, researchers be-
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as protective factors and as predictors of resilience among SOF gan with broad questions and adjusted questioning based on
military personnel. US SOF personnel, for example, report participants’ responses to allow the freedom and flexibility to
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higher levels of social support from their units and from the capture rich and complex new insights into the lived experi-
army than do non-SOF military personnel, and these levels ence of resilience. The set of questions was also adjusted it-
of social support are related to better mental and physical eratively following the first interviews and data analyses. The
health. 20 following themes were explored: (1) the main challenges and
stressors faced during military service; (2) intrapersonal and
At the organizational level, programs aimed at increasing mil- interpersonal aspects of resilience; (3) aspects of resilience spe-
itary members’ mental skills and performance (e.g., mental cific to CANSOFCOM and high-risk military occupations; (4)
imagery, goal setting, using different forms of attention, mind- the perceived interaction between deployment and resilience;
fulness, effective communication skills), such as the Road to and (5) the process of change in resilience. The interviews
Mental Readiness (R2MR) in the Canadian Armed Forces ranged from 30 to 90 minutes in length. Prior to participat-
(CAF) and Battlemind in the US military, are becoming more ing, participants provided oral consent and completed a brief
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prevalent. Mental-skills training is thought to provide tools to demographic questionnaire to record key demographics and
enhance functioning and performance and may be beneficial military information.
for SOF personnel given the high operational demands. Ad-
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ditionally, a positive organizational climate has been identified Data Analysis
as positively impacting resilience among military personnel. All interview coding and data management was conducted
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There does not appear to be research examining organizational using Microsoft Word. Instead of generating a new theory
factors that impact resilience among SOF personnel. of resilience, interview notes were analyzed using a thematic
analysis to reveal participants’ rich and in-depth descriptions
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Studies examining resilience among SOF personnel have fo- of adversity and resilience in their own words. The process of
cused on intrapersonal (e.g., personality traits, mental health qualitative data analysis involved familiarization with the in-
outcomes) or interpersonal factors, but to our knowledge, terview notes and data reduction (i.e., reading interview notes
none have looked at the process of resilience in a holistic and comments and extracting what was relevant to answer
manner (i.e., integrating individual, social, and organizational the research questions), generating initial codes by identifying
factors). Furthermore, quantitative studies on resilience have and coding patterns in participants’ responses, categorizing
been limited by their focus on specific traits, mental health the codes and generating themes, and elaborating on emerg-
outcomes, and inability to fully understand the processes of re- ing themes. The notes from the first interview were analyzed
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silience and interpret findings in their sociocultural context. independently by the researcher who conducted the interviews
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This study addressed the need to better understand Canadian and the note-taker. The research team first developed the study
Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) mem- codebook inductively with a small amount of research materi-
bers’ main challenges and the processes and interrelated fac- als in collaboration with a subject matter expert to ensure that
tors that contribute to their ability to maintain their resilience. participants’ language (e.g., use of jargon) and responses were
Therefore, a qualitative method was used to explore CAN- well understood and contextualized. Afterward, the research-
SOFCOM members’ lived experience of adversity, their per- ers independently analyzed the qualitative data and reviewed
ceptions of the individual, social, and organizational factors the emerging codes and categories collaboratively.
that impact their psychological resilience, and the strategies
they use to maintain their resilience over the course of their The researchers intercoded 20% of the research material to
careers. ensure that both agreed with the coding, categorization, and
emerging themes. Disagreements were discussed and resolved
by reviewing other information from the interviews that shed
Methods
light on the appropriate thematic coding, or by revising a
A descriptive qualitative approach was used to explore the theme’s definition to avoid excessive overlap between themes
lived experience of resilience among CANSOFCOM mem- (i.e., drawing distinctions). When no resolution was possi-
bers. This method was chosen to allow understanding of con- ble, a third expert was consulted to mediate the discussion,
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textualized experiences, the process, and the factors impacting typically when more situational awareness and contextual or
Adversity and Resilience Among Special Forces Personnel | 61