Purpose The study is about generating the first evidence-based picture of the combat medic with special focus on medic mettle. Medics (Army/Air Force) and corpsmen (Navy/Marines) have provided medical services to military forces and their families. The combat medic and corpsmen have served in battle in the US since the Civil War (Suber, 1973; Cabrera, Chapman, & Figley, 2010; Cabrera, Figley, & Chapman, 2010) and in less formal ways throughout history in efforts to save lives on the battlefield. This study focuses on attempting to identify the characteristics (metrics) of the mettle required to survive and even thrive in extremely dangerous and stressful -- physically and mentally -- conditions. It is the first study to focus on either medics or corpsmen and one of the first in the world to focus on mettle. Mettle is defined by Webster's as vigor and strength of spirit or temperament. For the purposes of this study we define mettle, in the context of Medic Mettle, as resilience and wellbeing in the face of extreme adversity. Research Questions How do they become this way during and following deployment? What are the variables that best predict resilience, wellbeing, and thriving of the combat medic? What does a model of medic mettle predict in terms of recruiting, educating, training, managing, supervising, and supporting combat medics? Research Program Methodology We are utilizing a mixed method longitudinal design that includes an annual survey of the sample first utilizing the MHAT measures.The three Quant Team members were able to complete the recruitment process and survey 432 combat medics plus others and a 10% follow-up rate for a two-hour video interview. Each interviewee was compensated for utilizing the free time and signed additional release forms to be interviewed with the understanding that the video would be used strictly for research purposes by the qualitative team for a period long enough to study thoroughly. The videotaped interviews are conducted specifically to provide the data to enable us to generate new variables that may address the fundamental questions. Once these new, unstudied variables emerge from interviews with combat medics, we will do three things. First we will define this potentially new variable, search the literature for an existing measure for adoption to the Annual Survey, or we will develop it ourselves. The purpose is to determine the relative power of the variable to determine relationship to predicting Medic Mettle. If it has sufficient predictive power, the team will urge colleagues to join them in studying this variable. To generate these variables we are following the Variable Generating Activity (VGA) procedure whereby the three Qual Team members review a third of the interviews and identify variables noted by the interviewees as potentially important in one of the five conceptual domains. The variables once identified are placed in one of five domains that form a variable domain map. This is done through Variable Domain Mapping.* Mapping helps the team first determine where the variable goes primarily and secondarily. Knowing this it helps the team sort through duplicates, make sure each domain is represented, and operationalize (measure the variable in the annual survey. The first and subsequent surveys help determine the utility of the variable in measuring and managing medic mettle. Preliminary Findings The results are currently being analyzed to determine how this sample of combat medics compare with the last two years of MHAT results (Cabrera, Chapman, & Figley, 2010). Next we will identify all of the variables generated by our survey and construct structural models that best predict one of several behavioral health outcomes that represent "Medic Mettle." The Qual Team will generate potentially useful variables in improving the models that can be tested from the date generated in the 2010 annual survey of (our sample) medics. Implications Though the findings are not in, the research team has been focusing on medic mettle for some time and have contributed several reports. One one emerging paper is on combat medics. Another on the research methodology utilized in this study (Cabrera, Figley, & Chapman, 2010) and the initial findings related to comparisons of the this first time medic sample to compare with the MHAT (Cabrera, Chapman, & Figley, 2010). References Cabrera, D., Chapman, P., Figley, C. R. (2010). Initial findings of the Medic Mettle Study: Comparison of the initial sample to the MHAT Findings. Unpublished paper. New Orleans: Traumatology Insitute of Tulane Univeristy. Cabrera, Figley, & Chapman, 2010. A mixed method Suber, 1973; _______ * By utilizing Variable Domain Mapping one is able to quickly compare two soldiers serving as each others' Battle Buddy, a tradition of mutual aid, monitoring, and advocacy for health. |