Skip to content

Going back with a mission – pilot

How do return trips contribute to integrating deployment experiences into the (personal) lives of veterans and their families? In this study, we seek to answer this question. In doing so, we contribute to the knowledge base on the importance of return trips for veterans, their communities, and veteran care.

Description

There are many assumptions about the positive effect that a return trip has on the quality of life of a veteran, but there is no evidence to support this. This study focuses on the impact of return trips on veterans to the former Yugoslavia.

This interdisciplinary study, which draws on psychiatry, (clinical) psychology, humanistics, spiritual care and social work, investigates the significance of return trips for veterans. The home front is also taken into account. Over a period of two years, a number of small groups of veterans will be invited to take part in a guided five-day group return trip.

The knowledge gained will be used for research into quality of life, to develop best practices for return trips, to improve the theory of meaning and moral injury, and to utilise knowledge about the impact on the home front in existing treatment programmes. An important aspect is knowledge about meaning and theory formation about rituals. The results will also be used to determine the position of return trips in treatment programmes.

Researchers

Project leader

Researchers

Spiritual care

Logistics

Partners

(C-)funding

LZV, R&D application – Scientific research within the Research Agenda for Veteran Care, Ministry of Defence

Also see

Follow-up project: Back with a mission: reconsidering return trips from a relational perspective

Contact

Nicole Immler (n.immler@uvh.nl)