Exploring UK Veterans’ experiences of moral transgressions in service
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring United Kingdom Veterans’ experiences of moral transgressions in service: a qualitative Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis.
IRAS ID
304115
Contact name
Holly Edwards
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
ERN_22-0107, University of Birmingham Ethics Self Assessment Form (SAF)
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 10 months, 1 days
Research summary
The term ‘moral injury trauma’ has been proposed to describe the suffering that some veterans experience when they engage in acts during combat that violate their own moral beliefs. These acts include betrayal, incidents involving injury or harm to civilians, within-rank violence, inability to prevent death or suffering, and ethical dilemmas. Moral injury trauma is commonly associated with emotions such as shame, guilt, anger, disgust, and contempt, and behaviours such as self-injury and substance abuse.
Overall, there is a lack of research on moral injury trauma within veterans in the United Kingdom (UK). In addition, the majority of research that exists, focuses on male veterans’ experiences with little to no consideration of the experiences of other genders. This research aims to support the understanding of moral injury trauma across genders within the UK veteran population by specifically understanding the veterans’ personal experiences of moral injury trauma. This may subsequently support the development of interventions to address the unique experiences of veterans who experience moral injury trauma. The study aims to interview UK veterans who are receiving support from the Complex Treatment Service and considered eligible to take part by their clinician, about their experiences of moral injury trauma and analyse the data using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis.
REC name
South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/SW/0050
Date of REC Opinion
7 Jun 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion