A Qualitative Study Exploring How Moral Injury Might Affect the Functioning of the Moral Conscience in UK Military Veterans Formed by a Virtue Approach to Military Ethics Education

Smith, David G. S. (2024) A Qualitative Study Exploring How Moral Injury Might Affect the Functioning of the Moral Conscience in UK Military Veterans Formed by a Virtue Approach to Military Ethics Education. Doctoral thesis, Birmingham City University.

[thumbnail of David Smith EdD Thesis published_Final version_Submitted Mar 2024_Final Award Aug 2024.pdf]
Preview
Text
David Smith EdD Thesis published_Final version_Submitted Mar 2024_Final Award Aug 2024.pdf - Accepted Version

Download (14MB)

Abstract

This qualitative study investigates how UK army veterans of recent Iraq and Afghanistan Campaigns (2001 – 2014) experienced the effect of Moral Injury on their ability to form moral judgments. Sparked by a critical incident in Afghanistan in 2010 where UK soldier Marine A violated the Geneva Conventions, the study considers how UK military ethical education develops a soldier’s moral conscience by using a virtue approach to form character. It inquires whether the current educational approach offers the ‘best fit’ for preparing the conscience to function soundly when confronted with moral attrition.

MI is the deleterious effect on a person, including possible suicide ideation, in reaction to a Potential Morally Injurious Experience that challenges deeply held beliefs of right and wrong, as judged by the moral conscience. Moral Injury’s root cause is an affront to the moral conscience, not fear-based trauma. It is not considered a mental illness. Hallmark characteristics of Moral Injury are shame, guilt and self-loathing that appear to resist current psychiatric interventions. Religious and community-based rituals have been reported as helpful in offering peace of mind and healing to those affected by Moral Injury.

An interpretivist approach interrogated the data using multiple theoretical lenses to encourage the data to ’glow’. Bourdieu’s Social Field theory situated the data within a strategic framework exploring the intersection of an education/ training / praxis dynamic that forms a UK Soldier’s approach to military ethics. 10 UK army veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan Campaigns were recruited, all of whom reported a Potential Morally Injurious Experience. An innovative synergistic combination of face-to-face and self-interviews generated uniquely rich data that was analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis - an interpretivist method that places the researcher at the centre of enquiry.

The study found that a virtue approach to military character formation in developing the soldier’s moral conscience helped it to withstand moral attrition. It was found that the moral conscience needed constant nourishment and education within a military ethos to function soundly in alignment with agreed ethical principles such as the Geneva Conventions. The findings have conceptual and practical implications for recognising and strengthening the role of the moral conscience in demarcating personal, professional and societal areas of responsibility in multiple social domains where a deficit between ethical theory and moral practice is reported.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Dates:
Date
Event
19 March 2024
Submitted
29 August 2024
Accepted
Uncontrolled Keywords: Moral Injury; Moral Conscience; Military Ethics; Virtue Ethics; Self Interview; Synergistic Interview; Reflexive Thematic Analysis
Subjects: CAH22 - education and teaching > CAH22-01 - education and teaching > CAH22-01-01 - education
Divisions: Doctoral Research College > Doctoral Theses Collection
Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences > College of Education and Social Work
Depositing User: Jaycie Carter
Date Deposited: 04 Oct 2024 10:43
Last Modified: 04 Oct 2024 10:48
URI: https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/15888

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Research

In this section...