title: An Ecological Approach to Positive Mental Health in the Australian Defence Force
Creators: name: Cosgrove, Martine
Publisher: name: The Australian National University
Year: 2025

description: More than ninety thousand men and women serve in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in permanent and reserve roles in any given year, and this number will increase over the next decade under the new National Defence Strategy. Many join at a time when they are transitioning into adulthood, which sets the scene for later-life health and social outcomes. Military service can be a hazardous and sometimes life-threatening occupation and studies show that a range of adverse mental health outcomes are associated with service, related to both combat exposure and non-operational determinants. The Services demand high standards of physical and mental fitness of members, including good social, emotional and psychological functioning; however, little is known about how service can affect the complex network of factors capable of producing positive mental health and wellbeing outcomes. This information is needed to develop strategies that meet the outcomes the organisation seeks at a time when the risks of service could increase. Studies of mental health outcomes tend to overlook the influence of non-operational conditions on mental health outcomes, and there are few studies that examine the impact of such factors as organisational policies on the developmental environment for positive mental health. The thesis uses qualitative methods to explore conditions of military service that support the acquisition and maintenance of positive mental health over time. A content analysis of mental health policy and an in-depth qualitative study of mixed-ranked Army members' (n = 50) experiences were conducted to examine how the ADF defines, understands and addresses positive mental health, what it means to members to be mentally healthy, what organisational factors members consider matter to their own mental health and wellbeing, and what the military can do to facilitate the development of positive mental health over the institutional life-course and beyond. The research tests the assumptions underpinning the ADF's approach to positive mental health using an ecological approach to positive development. The findings show that ADF mental health policies do not define positive mental health or operate with the intention of protecting and promoting it. Policies are focused on pathology that impacts capability. In contrast, members define positive mental health and wellbeing in terms consistent with extant literature emphasising both feeling good and functioning well. The research contributes lived experience to support the view that positive mental health is a multidimensional experience of strongly networked emotional, psychological and social components. From the members' perspective, institutional processes (policies) are seen to influence social practices and values in ways that have a profound impact on their ability to sustain positive mental health. The research identifies three pathways to impact the lived experience of positive mental health over time: (1) policy development using integrative models of public mental health to increase investment in developing protective resources in the environment and reducing systemic inequities that impair availability of and access to those resources; (2) instrumental practices to promote social wellbeing by investing in the developmental leadership models that complement command and control practices, increase respect and reduce attitudes of neglect of personal and organisational growth, and; (3) further research into positive adult development processes and theories to identify the mechanisms underpinning wellbeing, positive mental health, resilience and unit cohesion and distinguish these concepts.