Abstract
This study investigated whether an intervention program, which was developed within the psycho-educational field, could support traumatized people to increase their mental toughness. This program is based on the four components of mental toughness, namely control, challenge, commitment and confidence. A valid and reliable psychometric instrument, the Mental Toughness Questionnaire 48 (MTQ48), has been successfully used in both the corporate and sports psychology world to determine people’s mental toughness but has never before been tested in supporting traumatised people. Many corresponding aspects between mental toughness and trauma were discovered and used to compile a psycho-educational intervention program to support traumatized persons to develop increased mental toughness. An action research design was employed, where both qualitative as well as quantitative methods were used. Eight traumatized people participated in the research. The results of the study indicated that seven of the eight participants’ overall mental toughness increased after the intervention program, and four of the eight participants’ mental toughness components increased. All respondents indicated that they could better deal and cope with their trauma. The conclusion could be drawn that the psycho-educational intervention program, which was based on enhancing mental toughness, was successful in supporting the traumatised participants to increase their mental toughness.
Highlights
This study investigated whether an intervention program, which was developed within the psycho-educational field, could support traumatized people to increase their mental toughness
Limited information exists about the expectations of the professional relationship between the therapist and the client during continuous psychotherapy, where the focus is on the effects of trauma on the client (Lamb, 1988; Corr, Nabe, & Corr, 2006; James & Gilliland, 2013)
In our study that sought to determine how to support a traumatised person to develop more mental toughness to gain skills that would support the individual to better deal with trauma, we analysed the corresponding aspects of the literature that was reviewed regarding mental toughness and trauma
Summary
“The world breaks everyone and afterward, some grow strong at the broken places” (Roets & Preston, 2008a). The question existed whether it would be possible to support traumatised people to develop skills, knowledge and characteristics for them to “bend and adapt”, like a tree in the wind, when they experience trauma, instead of “snap(ping) at the gust of the wind” when they are confronted with a traumatic experience (Roets & Preston, 2008a). Keeton (2009), and Preston (2013), defined trauma as stressful events, over which a person has no control These stressful events cause high levels of anxiety that threaten or harm a person’s emotional, physical and/or social well-being and interfere with the individual’s normal daily functioning in such a way that a re-evaluation of the person’s actions and thoughts are required. The research question explored the following: “Would a psycho-educational program that aims to improve mental toughness in a traumatised person, lead to heightened mental toughness?”
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