Page 115 - JSOM Spring 2021

baseline individual profiles for 10% of her unit, amounting to TABLE 2 A Side-by-Side Depiction of the Pursuing Meaning,
87 MSMs by using the SSFS tool; and then (b) conduct focus Purpose, and Values (PMPV) Subscale to Use for Assessing Programs
groups with 15%, or those she had profiled, to debrief their Devoted to this Key Spiritual Attribute
responses and capture more nuanced information about their 1. I know what my life is about. 1. I know what my life is about.
spiritual needs and interests. Strongly Agree Strongly Agree
Agree Agree
Somewhat Agree Somewhat Agree
During this process, Chaplain Jones found quantitative and Neutral Neutral
qualitative indications that her particular unit had a pro- Somewhat Disagree Somewhat Disagree
nounced interest in spirituality related to PMPV. After discuss- Disagree Disagree
ing this finding at length with her enlisted counterpart and Strongly Disagree Strongly Disagree
then with her peers and supervisor, she developed a PMPV ini- 2. I have been able to find a 2. I have been able to find a
tiative informed by a particular training resource she had care- sense of meaning in my life. sense of meaning in my life.
fully selected. This training resource has no assumptions about Strongly Agree Strongly Agree
a theistic worldview among participants, which was important Agree Agree
to Chaplain Jones since her baseline assessment showed many Somewhat Agree Somewhat Agree
constituents had opted out of PCHP but showed clear commit- Neutral Neutral
ment to PMPV. Chaplain Jones concluded that her initiative Somewhat Disagree Somewhat Disagree
should focus on finding/renewing a sense of ultimate purpose Disagree Disagree
Strongly Disagree
Strongly Disagree
in life and aligning personal/professional/family goals with
that purpose in a renewable, reflective practice. 3. Looking at my life as a whole, 3. Looking at my life as a whole,
things seem clear to me.
things seem clear to me.
Strongly Agree Strongly Agree
She approached her unit leadership for funding and support of Agree Agree
this new initiative, and defended her approach by sharing the Somewhat Agree Somewhat Agree
findings from her SSFS baseline assessment. In turn, she ex- Neutral Neutral
plained the evidence base for the SSFS, and the importance of Somewhat Disagree Somewhat Disagree
PMPV as one of three core attributes of SP/SF within the scope Disagree Disagree
of the SOF and CJCSI definitions. During the discussion, she Strongly Disagree Strongly Disagree
mentioned a number of validated wellness outcomes that cor- 4. I have a core of beliefs, 4. I have a core of beliefs,
related with growth in PMPV. ethics, and values that give ethics, and values that give
my life a sense of meaning my life a sense of meaning
and purpose. and purpose.
Her funding was approved, and Chaplain Jones launched her Strongly Agree Strongly Agree
initiative. She used her appropriated resources to recruit 12 Agree Agree
participants at a time, with whom she met every Tuesday and Somewhat Agree Somewhat Agree
Thursday for six weeks. Their meetings occurred during the Neutral Neutral
noon meal and lasted for 50 minutes. After each 6-week pe- Somewhat Disagree Somewhat Disagree
riod, she conducted an end-of-course assessment, took a week Disagree Disagree
off, and then prepared to launch a new iteration with 12 new Strongly Disagree Strongly Disagree
participants. 5. I am able to find meaning 5. I am able to find meaning
and purpose in my everyday and purpose in my everyday
During the end-of-training assessment, she had participants experiences. experiences.
complete the PMPV subscale only, and they completed it Strongly Agree Strongly Agree
Agree
Agree
twice by using a side-by-side format. She rearranged the Likert Somewhat Agree Somewhat Agree
model to flow downwards from the top of the page to the Neutral Neutral
bottom, used a descending-order, and expanded the number of Somewhat Disagree Somewhat Disagree
responses from five to seven in order to better capture move- Disagree Disagree
ment/change (Table 2). Strongly Disagree Strongly Disagree

Next, she gave instructions for completing the side-by-side
PMPV assessment. She encouraged her participants to ask
themselves to simultaneously rate their answer to each item PMPV sheet and SPCG took participants only 6–7 minutes,
in relation to their pre/post training states. On the left hand, and she was able to select a number of impactful quotes from
they would try to rate their PMPV attitudes before beginning the SPCG that contextualized and brought to life the num-
the training, and on the right hand they would try to rate their bers from her PMPV comparisons. As a result of using both
PMPV attitudes after the training, considering all the while tools, she effectively completed a mixed-methods assessment
whether they believed they had grown at all or gained some- for each of her training cycles.
thing by participating in the course. Using the side-by-side for-
mat at the end of each training cycle allowed Chaplain Jones Twelve participants attended her first offering, and eight of
to avoid keeping any personal information on record during them demonstrated some overall growth in PMPV in the side-
the course of training cycles. by-side scoring. Chaplain Jones reported to her leadership
that her initiative had a clear ROI by supporting growth in
In addition to the side-by-side administration of the PMPV PMPV among 67% of attendees, and that this growth was
subscale, Chaplain Jones made page-wide printouts of the positively correlated (by the SSFS project findings) with over-
SPCG, as a qualitative companion tool, and stapled them to all life meaning at r = 0.78, resilience at r = 0.52, quality of life
the back of each PMPV sheet. Completing the side-by-side at r = 0.51, and couple satisfaction at r = 0.42. In addition, it

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