Life Lessons in Military Services: Investigating the Influence of a Training Program on the Military Personnel's Life Skills Development
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18662/po/31Keywords:
Life skill education, Military, Soldier.Abstract
Soldiers experience dramatic challenges and need skills that will prepare them for long periods of separation and other military demands. The main purpose of present study was to investigate the efficacy of life skill education in two military bases, focusing: effective communication, drug abuse prevention, self-awareness, resilience, problem Solving, assertiveness, coping with stress, citizenship Skills, marriage preparation, sexual health, critical thinking and decision making. These twelve skills were selected by two professional social psychologists among 52 skills, which are routinely taught in military services all over the world. The Statistical population of this study was all conscripts, professional soldiers and commanders of two military centers, but 50 conscripts, 36 professional soldiers and 8 commanders (healthy male subjects, with average age 27 years) were selected by multistage sampling. To investigate the quality of training, international standard questionnaires, which validity and reliability of their Persian version were previously confirmed, were applied .The findings of the study revealed life skills-based education for military individuals improved effective communication skills 19%, drug abuse prevention 7%, self-awareness 12%, resilience 17%, 5% problem solving, assertiveness9%, coping with stress 10%, 5%citizenship skills, marriage preparation 10%, sexual health 6%, critical thinking 8% and decision-making 24% in conscripts and professional soldiers significantly. Finally, it is recommended to perform further studies with similar method, but longer follow up, evaluating the long term impact of life skill education in military centers.
References
Ahmadi, K., Karambakhsh, A., Mehrazma, A., & Salesi, M. (2013). Study of Pattern of Substance Abuse in Soldiers. Journal of Military Medicine, 15(4).
Ahmadizade, M., Ahmadi, K., & Anisi, J. (2012). Effectiveness of problem-solving, cohesive and combination therapy on the adaptation of war veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Military Medicine, 14(3).
Anisi, J., Fathiashtiani, A., Soltaninejad, A., & Amiri, M. (2006). Surveying the prevalence of suicidal thoughts and related factors among soldiers. Journal of Military Medicine, 8(2).
Anisi, J., Rahmati, F., Esmaili, A., & Haghi, A. (2015). The Effect of ProblemSolving Skills Training on Reducing Suicidal Thoughts of Soldiers. Ibn-e Sina Scientific-Research Quarterly, 16(1).
Asadzandi, M., Shekari, M., Ebadi, A., Morovati, M., & Salari, M. (2014). The Impact of Anger Management Training Based on the Pender Model on the Risk of Sufferering at Soldiers. Journal of Psychiatric Nursing, 2(4).
Asgharizade, E., & Saidinejad, M. (2011). Factors Affecting Organizational Commitment. Case Study: Membership in Jahad-e-Sharif University. Business management researches, 3(6).
Askari, M., & Maleki, S. (2010). Credit, validation and standardization of California's critical thinking skills for students. Quarterly Journal of Educational Measurement, 1(1).
Behruzi, N., Shahaniyeylagh, M., & Purseyedi, S. (2012). The relationship between perfectionism, perceived stress and social support with academic burnout. Culture Strategy Magazine, 20.
Braaten, E. B., & Rosén, L. A. (1998). Development and validation of the Marital Attitude Scale. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 29(3-4), 83-91.
Casey Jr, G. W. (2011). Comprehensive soldier fitness: A vision for psychological resilience in the US Army. American Psychologist, 66(1), 1.
Cigrang, J. A., Todd, S. L., & Carbone, E. G. (2000). Stress management training for military trainees returned to duty after a mental health evaluation: Effect on graduation rates. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 5(1), 48.
Crabtree-Nelson, S., & DeYoung, L. P. (2017). Enhancing Resilience in Active Duty Military Personnel. Journal of psychosocial nursing and mental health services, 55(2), 44-48.
Easom, L. R., Wang, K., Moore, R. H., Wang, H., & Bauer, L. (2017). Operation family caregiver: Problem‐solving training for military caregivers in a community setting. Journal of clinical psychology.
Ebrahimi, E., Hashemian, K., & Dokanei, F. (2012). The Effectiveness of Group Psychotherapy and Interaction Analysis on Increasing the Self-esteem of Service Servicemen in Northern Khorasan Prisons. Journal of Military Medicine, 14(3).
Esmaeilvand, N., & Hasanvand, B. (2014). The relationship between sexual knowledge and marital forgiveness with the mental health of married women. Quarterly Journal of Health Education and Health Promotion, 2(4).
Esmaili, I., Tavakoli, M., Ghiasi, M., Hekmatpur, A., & Farhadi, M. (2011). Effectiveness of life skills training on changing attitude towards narcotics among soldiers working in prisons in Tehran province. Specialty Studies on Addiction, 12(5).
Farsi, Z., Jabari, M., & Ebadi, A. (2006). Check the status of mental health outpatient soldiers referred to a military clinic in Tehran. Journal of Army University of Medical Sciences, 4(2).
Ford, C. M. (2015). Army Leadership and the Communication Paradox. Ghadami, K., Piri, M., & Vahabi, R. (2017). Application of Emotional Intelligence on the Psychological Empowerment of Military Personnel in Confronting Life Lessons in Military Services: Soft Threats, Case Study: A Military Organization. Quarterly soft power studies, 7(17).
Ghorbani, G., Isfahani, A., & Taghizade, M. (2007). An overview of the service and its impact on the mental health of soldiers. Journal of Army University of Medical Sciences, 5(4).
Heeringa, S. G., Gebler, N., Colpe, L. J., Fullerton, C. S., Hwang, I., Kessler, R. C., . . . Schoenbaum, M. (2013). Field procedures in the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS). International journal of methods in psychiatric research, 22(4), 276-287.
Hoseininasab, S., & Mostafapur, K. (2012). The Relationship between Managers Communication Skills and Organizational Health in Pars Abad Schools. Journal of Educational Sciences, 5(19).
Howard, K. I., Kopta, S. M., Krause, M. S., & Orlinsky, D. E. (1986). The dose– effect relationship in psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 41(2), 159.
Karkhane, P., Mohamadzade, R., Raeisi, Z., & Zademohamadi, A. (2017). Effectiveness of the Shikodrama on the resignation of suicidal soldiers. Quarterly journal of military psychology, 8(29).
Kessler, R. C., Colpe, L. J., Fullerton, C. S., Gebler, N., Naifeh, J. A., Nock, M. K., . . . Stein, M. B. (2013). Design of the army study to assess risk and resilience in servicemembers (Army STARRS). International journal of methods in psychiatric research, 22(4), 267-275.
Khedri, B., & Dabaghi, P. (2014). Investigating the Relationship between Coping Styles and Mental Health of Soldiers. Quarterly nurses and physician in combat, 5(2).
Latifian, M., & Seyf, D. (2007). Investigating the effect of self-knowledge on students' interpersonal relationships. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities University of Shiraz, 26(3).
Maktabi, G., Soltani, A., Bueshaghi, M., & Nokarizi, H. (2014). Investigating the Relationship Between Parent Bonding and Expression with High Risk Behaviors. Two Practical Advice Papers, 4(2).
Mohamadi, F., & Sahebi, A. (2001). Study of problem solving style in depressed people and comparison with normal people. Journal of Psychological Sciences, 1(1).
Mohamadipoor, M., & Falahati, M. (2016). Effectiveness of Life Skills Training on Mental Health of Spouses of Veterans with Affective Disorders.
Newman, R. (2003). Providing direction on the road to resilience. Behavioral Health Management, 23(4), 42-42.
Noferesti, A., Akbari, S., & Karamlu, S. (2016). Psychological Disorders and Consequences of Behavioral Consequences among Soldiers in Iran's Prisons. Ibn-e Sina Scientific-Research Quarterly, 18(3).
Organization, W. H. (2003). Skills for health. Skills-based health education including life skills: An important component of a Child-Friendly/HealthPromoting School, Atlanta: World Health Organization. Retrieved 5 July 2015. In.
Refahi, S., Tabanejad, Z., Ebadi, A., & Sarabandi, H. (2015). Assessing the knowledge and attitude of military personnel in preventing addiction by providing a suitable model. Nursing and Physician Quarterly in Race, 7(3).
Rezaee, S., & Rasuli, M. (2015). Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the Conner-Davidson Conservatism Scale in Adolescents with Cancer. Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Faculty of Urmia University of Medical Sciences, 13(9).
Scoville, S. L., Gardner, J. W., Magill, A. J., Potter, R. N., & Kark, J. A. (2004). Nontraumatic deaths during US Armed Forces basic training, 1977–2001. American journal of preventive medicine, 26(3), 205-212.
Shirazi, M., Noori, R., Fardin, M., Sanagu, G., & Hoseinian, S. (2015). Comparing Stress Coping and Darrening Students Trained in Basij Bases and NonBasij Students. Quarterly journal of military psychology, 6(23).
Svanemyr, J., Baig, Q., & Chandra-Mouli, V. (2015). Scaling up of Life Skills Based Education in Pakistan: a case study. Sex Education, 15(3), 249-262.
Yusefi, R., & Toghiani, E. (2016). Comparison of mental resilience and defense mechanisms in military and non-military individuals. Journal of Military Medicine, 18(2).
Zare, H., & Erabsheybani, K. (2011). The Effect of Risk Perception on Student Decision Style. Paper presented at the The first national conference on cognitive science in education, Tehran.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant this journal right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work, with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as an earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Postmodern Openings Journal has an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
CC BY-NC-ND
