Spiritual care for combat trauma: A qualitative evaluation of REBOOT Combat Recovery

ABSTRACT

Combat trauma experienced in a warzone can hamper the physical, mental, and spiritual health of military service members and Veterans for years afterward. Spiritual care for combat trauma is designed to help service members and Veterans find meaning and purpose in their experiences. One such spiritual care program is REBOOT Combat Recovery, a 12-week, Christian-based course led by trained volunteers across the country. An in-depth investigation of the REBOOT program is needed to advance knowledge of spiritual care for combat trauma and to assess the course in attendees’ own words. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 course graduates. Experiences of the course were positive. Interviewees identified the program’s emphasis on peer fellowship, spirituality, and the roots of distress as reasons for its effectiveness (RQ1). The most helpful aspects of the program involved the hospitality and family focus; targets for improvement included maintaining fidelity to the curriculum and offering opportunities for continuity upon graduation (RQ2). Interviewees described a variety of ways the course affected their view of self, their relationship with God and others, and their perceptions of combat trauma (RQ3). These findings are valuable for enriching spiritual care, in general, and enhancing the REBOOT Combat Recovery program, in particular.

KEYWORDS:

• Combat trauma
• health
• military
• REBOOT Recovery
• spirituality

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Trishala Bhagat, Megan Broecker, John Dale, Alisha Horn, Jeni Hunniecutt, Kai Koehler, Evan Owens, Allison Richardson, Samantha Ruiz, Sheridan Seitz, Revlon Wilson, and Sharon Zavlin.

Disclosure statement

Dr. Jenny L. Owens is employed by REBOOT Recovery, a nonprofit organization that may be affected by the research reported in this paper.

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data are not available.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by a Military Service Knowledge Collaborative Seed Grant Award from the Chez Veterans Center at the University of Illinois.