Methods: A convergent parallel mixed methods design was employed to study the phenomenon of interest. Three military nursing organizations (Air Force, Army, and Navy) posted a link to an electronic survey study on their websites. Military nurses who met the participation criteria were invited to complete the survey. The quantitative portion of the study consisted of a Core Beliefs Inventory and a Posttraumatic Growth Inventory. The Core Beliefs Inventory is a 9-item Likert scale that assesses the degree to which a person examines basic beliefs and assumptions about the world. The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory is a 21-item Likert scale that assesses the amount of positive change a person experiences after a difficult and challenging life struggle. This inventory is composed of five dimensions: Personal Strength, Appreciation of Life, Relating to Others, Spiritual Change, and New Possibilities. The qualitative portion of the study was made up of six open-ended questions asking the nurses to describe any experiences they had that involved a positive change in their beliefs or life after caring for traumatized patients. Questions focused on relationships with others, compassion, philosophy of life, and personal changes as a result of deployment and reintegration. IBM SPSS Statistics and qualitative content analysis were used to analyze the quantitative and qualitative data respectively.
Results: The sample consisted of active duty and reserve military nurses. The majority of nurses reported a small to moderate disruption of their core beliefs and vicarious posttraumatic growth. Personal Strength and Appreciation of Life were the two dimensions on the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory that reflected the highest growth. These two dimensions were also the categories most frequently described in the qualitative portion of the study. Significant statements and exemplars were plentiful with a outpouring of gratitude and thankfulness expressed by study participants. Vicarious posttraumatic growth was seen as going beyond resilience. Personal development in some areas surpassed what was present prior to the experience of caring for trauma victims in war.
Conclusion: Military nurses need to be aware of the potential to experience personal and professional growth despite the significant stress and unpredictability of the war zone environment. This also applies to nurses working in a variety of settings such as the ICU, birthing center, emergency room, neighborhood health center, NICU, operating room, hospice, clinics, and inpatient units, etc... It is important for nurses to focus on balancing their stress and growth to achieve both personal and professional well-being.