You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Original research
Pilot investigation of an activity-based approach to building hardiness
  1. Jason Judkins1,
  2. B Moore2,
  3. E Stone3,
  4. A Welsh4,
  5. G Carbon5,
  6. B Rendell6 and
  7. A Peterson7
  1. 1 Military Performance Department, US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, Massachusetts, USA
  2. 2 Department of Psychological Science, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia, USA
  3. 3 5-20 Infantry Battalion, 1-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, USA
  4. 4 US Army Institute of Surgical Research, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, USA
  5. 5 Center for Army Analysis, Fort Belvior, Virginia, USA
  6. 6 AFROTC Detachment 842, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA
  7. 7 Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Jason Judkins, US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick 01760, Massachusetts, USA; jason.l.judkins.mil{at}mail.mil

Abstract

Background The purpose was to describe an activity-based psychological hardiness training programme delivered by an occupational therapist and examine its acceptability and effectiveness in improving hardiness.

Method Participants (N=28) completed the 6-hour programme, which included pre/post-programme completion of the Dispositional Resilience Scale-15 (DRS-15) and a Program Evaluation Form. Paired t-tests were used to determine differences between pre-training and post-training scores on the DRS-15.

Results Results showed a significant increase (p<0.05) in total hardiness, commitment, and control scores on the DRS-15 from pre-training to post-training and good–excellent ratings for all categories on the Program Evaluation Form.

Conclusions This programme evaluation described an occupational therapist’s role in providing an activity-based psychological hardiness training programme and provided preliminary support for the acceptability of an activity-based approach to training psychological hardiness for service members.

  • education & training (see medical education & training)
  • rehabilitation medicine
  • medical education & training

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request. Not applicable.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjmilitary-2020-001661

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    Data availability statement

    Data are available upon reasonable request. Not applicable.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Contributors JJ, BM, ES and AW contributed to conception and design of the study. BR, GC and AP contributed to acquisition of data. JJ and BM analysed and interpreted the data. ES, AW, GC and BR revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. JJ, BM, ES, AW, GC, BR and AP approved the version of the manuscript to be published.

    • Funding This research received funding from the Organized Research Unit at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio ('no grant number').

    • Disclaimer The views and information presented are those of the authors and do not represent the official position of the US Army Medical Center of Excellence, the US Army Training and Doctrine Command, or the Departments of Army, Department of Defense, of US Government.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.