Date of Award
5-2024
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Program
Counselor Education
Department
Counselor Education
Major Professor
Zarus Watson
Second Advisor
Christopher Belser
Third Advisor
Brian Beabout
Abstract
Due to increasing mental health concerns in combat exposed military members, including posttraumatic stress, there is a commiserate need for improved mental health services. Other mental health concerns include an increasing rate of suicide deaths in military members who have served during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), or Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). There is a need for mental health counselors to have a more nuanced understanding of the clinical needs of combat exposed military members. In more recent years the construct of moral injury has emerged as a potential explanation for the presentation of certain combat exposed military members. Moral injury can be thought of as the social, spiritual, psychological, emotional, and existential wound that can occur in the aftermath of either doing or witnessing acts that are contrary to the individual’s moral belief system. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to gain an understanding of how moral injury might better explain the clinical presentation of certain traumatized military members. This study seeks to add to a growing body of knowledge surrounding the construct of moral injury as it pertains to certain combat exposed military members presenting with trauma symptoms. Participants will have deployed to a combat zone during either the Gulf War or OEF / OIF and will have held a job within the military (military occupational specialty; MOS) commonly associated with combat exposure (e.g. reconnaissance).
Recommended Citation
Allsbrook Roth, Deborah, "Moral Dilemmas: A Phenomenological Exploration of Military Members Experience of War" (2024). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 3165.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/3165
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.