Soldiers' perceptions of resilience training and postdeployment adjustment: Validation of a measure of resilience training content and training process.

Abstract

Group randomized trials of a resilience training program (formerly Battlemind training) demonstrated effectiveness of the program in reducing postdeployment adjustment problems among military personnel. These results are promising, but program evaluation is a dynamic, multifaceted task, and many questions remain. This article is designed to address one component of resilience training program evaluation: soldiers' perceptions of the training. Specifically, a self-report measure assessing attitudes and satisfaction in domains theorized to be important to resilience training was developed. This measure was administered to 782 soldiers who participated in a 1-hr resilience training session at 4-months postdeployment. Several mental health outcomes (e.g., alcohol problems, posttraumatic stress symptoms, physical health symptoms, unit morale) were assessed before training and 6 months later. Structural validity, internal consistency, concurrent validity, and predictive validity of the measure were examined. Analyses identified two factors reflecting attitudes toward Training Content and Training Process. The factors demonstrated good internal consistency, and both correlated with overall training satisfaction and mental health-related attitudes. In addition, both factors predicted significant positive change in a set of mental health outcomes at 6-month follow-up. Implications for postdeployment resilience training are discussed.