Depth and breadth of Canadian military, Veteran and family research: The first decade of Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research Forums
Abstract: The Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR) was established in 2010 by Queen’s University and the Royal Military College of Canada in consultation with key personnel from Veterans Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence. CIMVHR’s mission is to enhance the lives of Canadian military personnel, Veterans, and their families by harnessing national capacity for research. CIMVHR has held annual Forums since 2011, attracting researchers from across Canada and the world to present their findings to a diverse audience of Veterans, family members, policy and program designers, service providers and research colleagues. This infographic gives highlights from analysis of 1,561 Forum podium and poster presentations between 2011-2019, before COVID-19. The 1,341 presentations in 2012-2019 were categorized using four frameworks: the multi-domain well-being framework developed at Veterans Affairs Canada, military members’ life cycles, a research methodology nomenclature developed for this project, and the research cycle. The research cycle has five phases: situation (what is happening?), cause (what causes the situation?), solution (how can we fix the situation?), implementation (how do we deliver the solution?) and evaluation (does the implementation work?).
Abstract: U.S. Air Force remotely piloted aircraft (USAF RPA) personnel face diverse stressors negatively affecting psychological health and military readiness. Prior research in diverse populations supports predictable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on occupational stressors, burnout, and more distal outcomes. Extending earlier studies linking broad variables (e.g., COVID-19 threat → work stress → burnout), the current study tests and refines an expanded mediation model based on multiple distinct pandemic concerns, occupational stressors, and burnout facets as antecedents of psychological distress mid-pandemic in RPA personnel (N = 496). Differential representation of demands, resources, and rewards evident across distinct occupational stressors in light of job demands/resources theory guided specification of mediated pathways. SEM analysis yielded moderate fit. Following removal of non-significant paths and addition of two interpretable direct paths, fit was improved, yielding seven dominant pandemic concern → occupational stressor → burnout → psychological distress pathways. In support of domain specification, five 'hub' variables (pandemic-driven change, personal stressors, workload, leader communication, and exhaustion) emerged as key intervention targets in mitigating distress in the USAF RPA community and similar populations during future pandemic-related crises.