In search of oneself: examining the role of the self-concept of former members of the British Army within a career transitions environment

Abstract

Background.
On preparing to leave the British Army, many soldiers are unaware about what civilian job they want, and a number of veterans struggle to secure suitable civilian employment. Previous studies into the experiences of soldier to civilian career transition have focused predominantly on seeing how an army-self, an institutional embodiment of the self-concept, journeys into the civilian world. There is a dearth of research investigating to what extent the soldier-self is a genuine representation of individual service-leavers, or the continued promotion of a homogenized and ideal person that may negatively affect the veteran community.
Aims.
The overall aims of this study were to explore the conceptualized-self of transitioned soldiers; to discover to what extent they were created in the army, how change occurred and explore how their selves returned to the civilian world of work. A further aim was to generate ideas to enhance the current resettlement offering.
Methods.
It was decided that in order to achieve a maximum variation sample, a deliberate attempt to include age, rank and length of service variation was made. Fourteen working-age participants were each interviewed five times in this study over a five-month period, totalling 4,309 minutes, to explore their childhoods, recruit training, time in the army, resettlement and present day. Participants were aged between 30 and 66 years old (UK state pension age) and included Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and an attempt was made to include women at a similar percentage to those who serve currently in the British Army. Using a qualitative, social applied research methodology, the study used Framework Analysis to make sense of the findings. Text that is written in the first person reflects the views of the author whereas that written in the third person reflects the work of other authors and thoughts of participants interviewed.
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Results Summary.
Two superordinate themes were generated: 1) Conceptualizing the internalized self-concept and 2) The Self in Transition. Analysis of the findings suggested that the selves of all participants were developed through their time in the army, relative to their immediate cultural environments, but how much of the army-self existed today varied according to attitude and life experiences since leaving. Participants experienced degrees of incongruence, between their real and ideal-selves, which was not considered, or realized, until either they had sought counselling or psychological support having left the army, or until participating in this study.
Abstract Synopsis.
This study concludes that a person-centred and humanistic psychological approach, using one-to-one occupational counselling, in non-military settings, that aims to increase authentic levels of holistic self-awareness amongst service-leavers and veterans, engaged in securing suitable civilian careers, could be a highly effective approach to ensuring a less stressful and more independent resettlement journey, both psychologically and practically.
Opportunity arose to consider ideas that could be collaboratively and non-competingly worked into the resettlement structures. It is hoped that not only those working with former soldiers but also from other industries, where there is a risk of personnel being labelled as a type, consider the findings of this study when delivering personal development activities aimed at improving recruitment, performance, well-being and retention.

Date of Award	6 Sept 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Northumbria University
Supervisor	Matt Kiernan (Supervisor)