The Relationship between Mindful Awareness and Cognitive Performance among U.S. Military Service Members and Veterans

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 843-847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie J. B. Rice ◽  
Fort Sam Houston ◽  
Paul J. Schroeder
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
Service Members ◽  
Attention And Memory ◽  
Continuous Performance ◽  
Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire ◽  
Continuous Performance Task ◽  
Performance Task ◽  
Attention Tasks ◽  
Military Service Members ◽  
The Relationship

Mindfulness training has been shown to reduce stress and improve performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between mindfulness and cognition in U.S. military service members and veterans (n = 236). Volunteers completed the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), and two attention and memory measures: the running memory continuous performance task (CPT) and the standard continuous performance task (SCP). MAAS scores were negatively correlated with mean RT on both the CPT and SCP (r’s = -.14 and -.18, respectively, p < .05). FFMQ scores were positively correlated with correct responses (r = .15) and throughput scores (r = .14) on the CPT and negatively correlated with mean RT on the SCP (r’s = -.15, p < .05). Greater mindfulness was associated with better performance on two sustained attention tasks, suggesting mindfulness is linked with improved management of continuous information, without distraction or impulsive reaction.

Examining the link between prior suicidality and subsequent suicidal ideation among high-risk US military service members

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (13) ◽  
pp. 2237-2246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie A. Hom ◽  
Mary E. Duffy ◽  
Megan L. Rogers ◽  
Jetta E. Hanson ◽  
Peter M. Gutierrez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Suicide Risk ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Service Members ◽  
Thwarted Belongingness ◽  
Us Military ◽  
Military Service Members ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractBackgroundResearch is needed to identify the factors that explain the link between prior and future suicidality. This study evaluated possible mediators of the relationship between: (1) the severity of prior suicidality and (2) suicidal ideation severity at 3-month follow-up among a sample of high-risk military personnel.MethodsUS military service members referred to or seeking care for suicide risk (N = 624) completed self-report psychiatric domain measures and a clinician interview assessing prior suicidality severity at baseline. Three months later, participants completed a self-report measure of suicidal ideation severity. Three separate percentile bootstrap mediation models were used to examine psychiatric factors (i.e. alcohol abuse, anxiety sensitivity, hopelessness, insomnia, posttraumatic stress symptoms, suicidal ideation, and thwarted belongingness) as parallel mediators of the relationship between prior suicidality severity (specifically, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, and overall suicidality – i.e. ideation/attempt severity combined) at baseline and suicidal ideation severity at follow-up.ResultsHopelessness, specifically, and the total effect of all mediators, each significantly accounted for the relationship between prior suicidality severity and subsequent ideation severity across models. In the models with attempt severity and overall suicidality severity as predictors, thwarted belongingness was also a significant mediator.ConclusionsHopelessness, thwarted belongingness, and overall severity of psychiatric indices may explain the relationship between prior suicidality severity and future suicidal ideation severity among service members at elevated suicide risk. Research is needed to replicate these findings and examine other possible mediators.

scholarly journals Team Coping: Cross-Level Influence of Team Member Coping Activities on Individual Burnout

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim Kamphuis ◽  
Roos Delahaij ◽  
Thomas A. de Vries
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
Team Member ◽  
Service Members ◽  
Coping With Stress ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
Military Service Members ◽  
The Relationship

Coping with stress has been primarily investigated as an individual-level phenomenon. In work settings, however, an individual’s exposure to demands is often shared with co-workers, and the process of dealing with these demands takes place in the interaction with them. Coping, therefore, may be conceptualized as a multilevel construct. This paper introduces the team coping concept and shows that including coping as a higher-level team property may help explain individual-level outcomes. Specifically, we investigated the effects of exposure to danger during deployment on burnout symptoms in military service members and examined to what extent this relationship was moderated by individual-level and team-level functional coping. We hypothesized that the relationship between individuals’ exposure to danger and burnout is contingent on both. In line with our predictions, we found that service members who were highly exposed to danger, and did not engage in much functional coping, suffered most from burnout symptoms, but only when their teammates did not engage in much functional coping either. When their teammates did engage in much functional coping, the effect of exposure to danger on burnout was buffered. Hence, team members’ coping efforts functioned as a resilience resource for these service members.

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