The Character Strengths of Special Forces Personnel: Insights for Civilian Health Care Practitioners

Civilian employees, contractors, and private community clinicians are increasingly providing health treatment to currently serving and former military personnel. This study addresses recent calls for evidence-based information to assist civilian practitioners in understanding the perspectives of their military clients. To this end, the self-reported character strengths of military personnel were elicited as an operationalized expression of their underlying personal values that shape their perspectives and conduct as soldiers. Specifically, Australian Army Special Forces operators and support personnel (N = 337) were asked to rank themselves on 24 character strengths. The three character strengths of integrity, teamworker, and good judgment were ranked significantly above random assignment. Nearly all the respondents (84%) gave a top rank to at least one of these character strengths. Differences between the operators and support personnel were modest. Results are discussed with respect to establishing an effective relationship between military clients and civilian health care practitioners.