Research Paper Title

‘It’s nice to just be you’: The influence of the employment experiences of UK military spouses during accompanied postings on well-being.

Background

Repeated military relocations (accompanied postings) can have a detrimental effect on employment and well-being among the spouses and partners of military personnel.

Methods

Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 19 spouses of British Army/Royal Air Force personnel with recent experience of accompanied postings to explore this issue through the lens of self-determination theory; all were married women with at least one child.

Results

Participants explained how employment contributed to an independent identity, enabling social connectedness, providing a sense of self-confidence and value but limiting agency over employment decisions.

Conclusions

Spouse employment, and therefore, well-being could be improved by the provision of better childcare access or additional support in finding employment and training opportunities.

Reference

Gribble, R., Goodwin, L., Oram, S. & Fear, N.T. (2019) ‘It’s nice to just be you’: The influence of the employment experiences of UK military spouses during accompanied postings on well-being. Health Psychology Open. 6(1):2055102919838909. doi: 10.1177/2055102919838909. eCollection 2019 Jan-Jun.