Emotional Awareness: Compassion as a means to promote the sustainable mental health of military personnel
Eva de Krijger-Feringa is a PhD student in the Department of Psychology, Health & Technology. Promotors are prof.dr. E.T. Bohlmeijer and dr. S.M. Kelders from the Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Science and prof.dr. S.G. Geuze from the University Medical Center Utrecht.
Military service, particularly in peacekeeping and combat roles, is linked to increased rates of mental illness. As such, promoting mental health among military personnel requires more than just treating illness—it should also focus on enhancing mental wellbeing, referred to in this thesis as sustainable mental health. One promising concept for supporting sustainable mental health is compassion, which involves acknowledging distress and responding with care. Self-compassion, a form of compassion directed toward oneself, has been shown to correlate positively with mental wellbeing.
Military culture, which emphasizes emotional control and persistence, may unintentionally encourage emotional suppression, a coping strategy linked to increased mental health issues. Compassion training may help personnel adopt more adaptive emotional responses.
This thesis explores compassion’s potential for improving sustainable mental health among active-duty military personnel through four research aims:
- Compassion Apps Review: Of 24 smartphone apps reviewed, eight met criteria for quality and consistency with evidence-based compassion interventions. Many others lacked engaging or accurate content.
- Measurement Validation: The Dutch translation of the Sussex Oxford Compassion Scale – Self (SOCS-S) was tested and found to be a psychometrically reliable tool for measuring self-compassion.
- Longitudinal Survey Study: A study with active-duty military showed that self-compassion moderates the impact of work-related stressors on anxiety and depression symptoms. Individuals with higher self-compassion experienced fewer symptoms under stress, with effects observed both concurrently and after 6–12 months.
- Compassion Training Evaluation: A proof-of-concept study tested a newly developed compassion training tailored for military personnel, using the term "emotional awareness" for better acceptability. Qualitative feedback indicated perceived benefits and high acceptability, especially in recognizing emotions. However, no significant changes were found in quantitative measures, possibly due to universal (non-targeted) implementation and lack of participant motivation.
In conclusion, the thesis supports the relevance of self-compassion for military mental health and the acceptability of compassion training. Future research should explore how to effectively promote compassion for active-duty military personnel.
