Qualitative Analysis of Chaplains’ Experiences Supporting Military Service Members and Veterans with Moral Injury

This transcendental phenomenological study explored the frequent themes identified by chaplains while supporting service members and veterans (SM/V) from diverse Christian denominations, such as Catholics, Protestants, and other Christian groups, who have suffered a moral injury. I described the lived experience of chaplains using in-depth surveys as part of a phenomenological approach to data collection. In the qualitative interview, the interest is hearing the chaplains’ thoughts on the nature and manifestations of moral injury in chaplaincy contexts. The study explored chaplains’ observations concerning what service members and veterans have in common when they experience moral injury. This qualitative research approach allows the detection, evaluation, and characterization of patterns corresponding to themes expressing a specific meaning within data sets and to identify implicit and explicit concepts. The transcendental phenomenology method was used to determine the moral injury and self-condemnation phenomenon by bracketing out an individual’s experiences and gathering data from chaplains who have supported service members and veterans who have encountered the phenomenon. The researcher then analyzes the data by reducing the material to critical statements or quotations and combining them into themes.