Toward a framework of moral challenges in military operations: implications for psychological resilience

This perspectives paper presents a programmatic integrative review and preliminary framework informed by a multi-year, multi-method research program conducted at Defence Research and Development Canada - Toronto Research Centre to document moral experience in military operational contexts. Drawing on a multidisciplinary, empirically grounded program integrating qualitative, experimental, field, and survey methods, the paper outlines a framework in which operational environments can give rise to moral challenges-ethically salient situations that may test values or the ability to act-which can escalate into moral conflicts, where values compete, and in some cases moral dilemmas, where competing obligations are irreconcilable. Engagement with these situations involves interacting affective, cognitive, physiological, and identity-related systems and may generate moral stress, defined as psychological strain associated with prioritizing competing values under conditions of high consequence and constrained agency, even in the absence of wrongdoing. These processes may lead either to moral resolution, characterized by integration and meaning-making, or, if unresolved, to moral distress, moral injury, and other negative psychological outcomes. Integrating findings across methods, this perspective advances understanding of psychological resilience through a moral lens, with potential applications to first responders who similarly confront morally challenging situations.