Defeated No More: Meaning-Making After Military Sexual Trauma

Abstract

Introduction Military sexual trauma (MST) has been a concern within our U.S. military for many years. Many interventions have been found to benefit this population, although meaning-based interventions are still lacking in this area. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the meaning-making process and themes that arise for female military veterans as they narrate their experience(s) of MST. Materials and Methods The qualitative study consisted of six female participants, from different areas across the nation, who all reported experiencing MST during their time in service. Their experiences of MST included both sexual harassment and sexual assault. Participants completed a semi-structured interview that was analyzed using an axial coding method to discover the major themes of each participant’s interview. The participants discussed the positive and negative aspects of their journey following their MST experience(s). This study’s procedures were approved by Adler University’s Institutional Review Board. Results Many found the interview to be a healing experience on their path of post-traumatic growth (PTG). There were eight major themes that arose from the data analysis under the three main domains of (1) creating a work or doing a deed, (2) experiencing something or encountering someone in a way to produce PTG, and (3) altering one’s attitude toward unavoidable suffering. The eight themes were as follows: advocacy, adaptive coping, sense of family unit, psychological clarity, meaningful mantra, survivor mentality code, view of self in the world, and resiliency. Conclusions All participants endorsed engagement in some type of activity that fell into one of the three major domains identified above. This finding helped highlight the PTG that participants were able to experience through their meaning-making journey. There were several recommendations and study implications that were derived from this research study. With the themes introduced from this study, future treatment planning for individual survivors of MST can be better informed by the utilization of meaning-making techniques. Family and group meaning-based interventions would also be an area of continued exploration for this population. Future implications for practice are also included within this article. Significant limitations of the study include amount of participants, lack of diversity in sample population, qualitative study results, and lack of a more-personal interviewing process.

Constellations of posttraumatic stress symptoms and posttraumatic growth among Israeli female combat veterans: A latent profile analysis approach

“…These results are in line with other studies that found that both forms of exposure to combat events are associated with higher PTSS and PTG (Evans et al, 2018; Greenberg et al, 2021). Our results do not echo the studies that found that experiences of MST are associated with higher odds for PTSS (Sumner et al, 2021) and PTG (Preston et al, 2023). It is possible that the qualitative methodology of the one study that linked MST to PTG among female combatants (Preston et al, 2023), which is different than our quantitative methodology and, specifically, the LPA, contributed to this pattern of findings.…”

“…Moreover, exposure to combat events (Greenberg et al, 2021) and total potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs) were associated with PTSS (Zerach & Levi‐Belz, 2022b). However, exposure to MST was also associated with high PTG (Preston et al, 2023), and exposure to PMIEs perpetrated by oneself was associated with high PTG (Evans et al, 2018). Given the different types of military‐related exposure and heterogeneity in reactions to PTEs, it is important to understand the factors that contribute to each constellation of PTSS and PTG experienced by women veterans and the possible positive psychological outcomes of such constellations.…”