GKT School of Medical Education, King's College London, London, UK.
King's Centre for Military Health Research, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, London, UK.
Occup Med (Lond). 2018 Dec 26;68(9):617-625. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqy140.
Military service can be a traumatic experience and cause mental health problems in a minority of personnel, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is linked to negative long-term outcomes. As a result, PTSD has received significant research attention. However, post-traumatic growth (PTG) is a newer construct, with comparatively little known about its presentation and development.
To qualitatively examine the experience of (PTG) in military and ex-military personnel.
A qualitative systematic search of electronic databases was conducted, with studies assessed for methodological quality and data analysed using thematic analysis. Nine qualitative studies, carried out between 2011 and 2016, met the inclusion criteria with 195 participants in total, including both military and ex-military personnel.
Six themes were identified: appreciation for life, re-evaluating sense of purpose, improvement of personal human traits, bonding and connecting with others, integrating into society, and being proud of heritage and feeling valuable to society.
The results of this review illustrate that military personnel may experience PTG due to deployment-related trauma exposure, and the presentation of PTG in this population is not dissimilar to that of civilians. This study highlights the need for additional research to quantify the long-term psychological impact of PTG and whether a focus on PTG may be helpful in psychological treatment for (ex-) military personnel.
兵役可能是一种创伤性经历，会导致少数人员出现心理健康问题，如创伤后应激障碍（PTSD），这与负面的长期后果有关。因此，PTSD 受到了大量研究的关注。然而，创伤后成长（PTG）是一个较新的概念，关于其表现和发展的了解相对较少。
定性研究军人和退役军人中（PTG）的体验。
对电子数据库进行了定性系统检索，对研究进行了方法学质量评估，并使用主题分析对数据进行了分析。共有 9 项定性研究符合纳入标准，总共涉及 195 名参与者，包括军人和退役军人。
确定了 6 个主题：珍惜生命、重新评估人生目标、提高个人人类特质、与他人建立联系、融入社会以及为传统和社会价值感到自豪。
本研究结果表明，由于部署相关创伤暴露，军人可能会经历 PTG，而该人群中 PTG 的表现与平民相似。这项研究强调需要进一步研究来量化 PTG 的长期心理影响，以及关注 PTG 是否有助于军人和退役军人的心理治疗。
