Thwarted belongingness and empathy's relation with organizational culture change.

Introduction: In response to several high-profile cases of senior leaders in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) being accused of various forms of sexual and professional misconduct, the organization has committed to culture change. Drawing on the group engagement model and empirical evidence, we propose that CAF members' experience of thwarted belongingness reduces their capacity to show empathy, which in turn affects their support for culture change. Method: Participants were 139 Naval and Officer Cadets from the Royal Military College of Canada who were predominantly male (61%), between 18 and 21 years old (80%), and not members of a visible minority group (68%). Data was collected via an online self-report survey assessing thwarted belongingness, empathy, and attitudes toward culture change. Results: Whether participants experienced thwarted belongingness was not directly related to their level of support for culture change. Individuals' thwarted belongingness was indirectly and negatively associated with support for culture change, through its impact on empathy. Discussion: Taken together, the results demonstrate that cadets' experience of belongingness contributed to their level of empathy, which together predicted their support for culture change initiatives. Efforts to change the culture of the CAF may need to consider improving members' levels of belongingness and, by extension, their levels of empathy. Implications for inclusion efforts are discussed.

Operational stressors, psychological distress, and turnover intentions: The impact of potentially morally injurious experiences.

Military personnel experience stressors during deployment that could take a toll on their psychological well-being and on the organization's function. One common approach to better understanding the impact of such stressors is measuring events using psychological scales. The current research examined items measuring potentially morally injurious experiences in post-deployment assessments of personnel involved in the Afghanistan mission using the United States Mental Health Advisory Team - Combat Experiences Scale (MHAT-CES). Study 1 found that the scale produced five components. Three components showed consistency with past studies that examined the structure of other versions of the CES (i.e., dangerous environments, exposure to dead and injured and active combat). A fourth component that we labeled life threats included items that were typically divided between the aforementioned components. Finally, a stable and reliable fifth component included items related to potentially morally injurious experiences. Study 2 replicated this structure and showed that increased perceptions of potentially morally injurious experiences during deployment were associated with higher levels of psychological distress, which in turn promoted stronger turnover intentions, even after controlling for the effects of the other combat stressor components on these variables. We discuss the implications of potentially morally injurious experiences in relation to individual psychological distress and organizational retention.

Changes in mood, fatigue, sleep, cognitive performance and stress hormones among instructors conducting stressful military captivity survival training.

Numerous studies have examined the effects of captivity survival training on psychological and physiological function in trainees. In the present study we shifted the focus to instructors, and measured the effects that the delivery of training exerts on their levels of stress and performance. Because instructors are called upon to perform difficult duties (e.g., mock interrogations) under extreme conditions, we hypothesized that significant increases in psychological and physiological indices of stress would occur due to training. In addition, as part of their job tasking, the instructors conducted courses in consecutive weeks. This offered a unique and ecologically valid opportunity to assess carryover of stress from one week to the next. We hypothesized stress levels would be higher in the second than the first week of training. Our first hypothesis was supported: Delivering training was associated with impairments in mood, fatigue, and sleep, as well as a reduction in the ratio of testosterone/cortisol level in blood. Our second hypothesis was largely not supported as a 3-day break separating consecutive courses appeared sufficient for restoring psychological and physiological function. Our results demonstrate that although the delivery of training exerts negative effects on instructors' levels of stress, the 3-day recovery period separating consecutive courses is sufficient to return psychological and physiological function to baseline levels.

The effects of captivity survival training on mood, dissociation, PTSD symptoms, cognitive performance and stress hormones.

In the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), Conduct After Capture (CAC) training is a 4-day captivity survival course during which soldiers are exposed to increasing stress, and evaluated on their ability to accomplish military objectives. We hypothesized that: (a) compared to baseline, CAC training would cause significant, reversible perturbations in measures of psychological functioning and serum and salivary stress hormone levels relevant to models of stress hardiness and vulnerability; and (b) deviations from baseline would be maximal at the time point of most intense stress during training. CAF personnel were assessed at baseline, twice during training (immediately prior to a less challenging interrogation role-play scenario and again following another much more intense interrogation role-play scenario), and after completion of training. At each occasion, mood, fatigue, dissociation, PTSD symptoms, short-term and working memory, and salivary cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) were assessed. As predicted, scores on all measures were degraded during CAC but recovered after completion of training, and almost all measures were most degraded at the more intense interrogation role-play scenario. Unexpectedly, memory performance was unaffected by training, suggesting that a short duration of intense stress might be insufficient for degrading it. Another unexpected finding was that mood assessed prior to training predicted successful completion of training, which bears important practical implications for increasing the success rate of training in similar environments. These results demonstrate that despite its relative brevity, CAC training nevertheless induces significant but reversible effects on psychological and physiological function-necessary preconditions for stress inoculation training.