Example Of Essay On Women At War: A Critique

"Women at war" is a qualitative paper which explores post-war experiences combatant women display after returning from wars in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom, OIF) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom, OEF). The study is a subjective analysis – based on semi-structured interviews with 19 OEF / OIF women veterans spanning January – November 2009 – and investigates an area much unresearched in literature, i.e. veteran women post-deployment experiences and stressors (as opposed to male combatants). Literature review, study finds, separates between post-deployment stressors and coping strategies. Accordingly, study research question focus on an examination of both post-deployment stressors and coping strategies among women veterans.
The study is based on a broader one, Women Veterans Cohort Study, and includes a sample of 43, 078 of OEF and OIF women veterans returning from service. The study is divided up into Phase I and Phase II. Selection criteria for participation in semi-structured interviews include participation in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom as well as an ability to read and write in English. Interviewee identities are concealed. Data collection is performed based on semi-structured interviews. The interviews allows for free flow of experiences during and post-deployment. In order to ascertain, irrelevancies are excluded, interview data are reviewed in light of set dimensions and categories. There is no mention of any ethical considerations or limitations in methodology or data collection strategies.
The study results show post-deployment stressors fall into "stressful military experiences" and "post-deployment reintegration problems". For coping strategies, women adopted strategies, study finds, which vary considerably and resources different behavioral and cognitive processes.
The stressful military experiences – including combat-related experiences, military sexual trauma and separation from family – as well as post-deployment reintegration problems – including redeployment challenges and disrupted relationship with family and friends – are both reported in narrative, subjective style as best befits personal, traumatic post-deployment experiences. In an ethnographic form, extensive quotes are included from interviews and could, interestingly, be developed into more in-depth areas of further research.
As well, study finds coping strategies – including behavioral avoidance coping, cognitive avoidance coping and behavioral approach coping strategies – veteran women adopted are consistent with reported findings on coping mechanisms. General, common shared behaviors include substance abuse, overeating and shopping. Notably, similar to reporting format for stressful military experiences, narration is employed in ethnographic presentation of veteran women experiences. Again, voices emerging in interview excerpts reported in study are recommended to develop further lines of research. Further, conceptual approaches to coping strategies are included as referential frameworks for strategies veteran women employ post-deployment.
The study discussion is report in narrative form and includes a range of policy implications covering issues of childcare and adequate healthcare provided by military. The study ends in a brief discussion of limitations which include different elapsed period for interviewed women (and hence inability to remember employed copying strategies) and identity of interviewed veteran women who were National Guard or Reserves members.
The study does not include specific, action-oriented recommendations. Cursory reference is provided to unidentified manuscript contributors. The paper ends in a reference section.
Based on a rigor criterion, study authors demonstrate rigor differentially. In documentation, study author adheres to a rigorous approach by starting with a discussion of phenomenon of interest (i.e. post-deployment stressors and coping strategies) and follows through to conclusion but does not discuss implications for further research. In procedural rigor, study author is largely limited by data pool which is not representative enough of broader veteran women experiences. In ethical rigor, study authors only refers to concealment of interviewee identity and does not, in fact, refer to any ethical considerations which women receiving mental healthcare might require.
Based on a credibility criterion, study credibility is largely compromised owing to interviewers being blinded to mental health status of women veterans and hence no direct access and in-depth engagement exists in study such as to guarantee researcher's and participant's views are consistent.
Based on a dependability criterion, study in question is hardly dependable since study design and methodology is based on semi-structured interviews which are hardly reproducible to elicit similar, let alone identical, responses from participants.
Based on a transferability criterion, study in question capacity for application in different contexts remains in doubt. This is not only because of study's design and methodology – hardly replicable – but also due to inconclusiveness of study findings.
Based on a conformability criterion, study author does not establish findings are derived from data. Put differently, although study author refers to data collected from interviewed women, no clear connection is established between collected data during interviews and elicited responses.
Overall, based on a goodness criterion, study performs poor due to lack of details about many procedures and design methods including, but not limited to, approach methods to participants, reasons for participation as well as participant view on reported findings.