The Professional Counselor | Volume 14, Issue 1 87 counseling and one research team member possesses an EdD in counseling. All team members had extensive experience conducting research with military-connected communities. In addition, all of our research team members were active-duty military spouses, with years of experience as a military spouse ranging from 1–23 years. We used several strategies to increase the credibility of our results. First, the use of an experienced research team to collectively analyze the data resulted in diverse perspectives on the emerging themes of the study. However, because each member of our research team was a military spouse, we recognized the need to bracket our own experiences and biases so that they did not interfere with our interpretation of the data. Each team member took notes on their individual biases, and our research team discussed these biases when interpreting themes. Biases held by research team members included a predisposition to believe that spouses of special warfare service members endured greater stressors and were better supported by their military communities; a belief that spouses of higherranking service members possessed greater knowledge of and access to resources to support social, behavioral, and mental health needs; and personal experience within the military spouse community. These biases were challenged throughout the research process by each member of the team. As each theme was identified, the team referenced individual transcripts to ensure that the interpretation was justified. We found that our biases were rightfully challenged. Additionally, to avoid leading questions, our research team made the conscious decision not to define resilience as part of the interview and follow-up process. The team wanted to derive an organic definition of spouse resilience that was not clouded by a formal definition. In addition, we used member checking, in which we emailed the interview transcripts to the participants and asked them to verify the data. The participants responded to our request with minimal change requests related to grammatical errors in the transcriptions and validated our data. Several offered additional insight related to their definition of resilience, which was included in our data analysis. Results The following themes emerged from our data: 1) shaped by service member and mission priority; 2) challenges within the military lifestyle; 3) outside expectations of spouse resilience; 4) sense of responsibility for family’s resilience; 5) individual resilience; and 6) collective resilience. Theme 1: Shaped by Service Member and Mission Priority Military/Service Member Definition When discussing their definition of resiliency, the spouses first considered what resiliency meant for their active-duty spouse. The participants varied in their perceptions of what resilience meant for their active-duty service member, though all defined resilience as an active process of adapting or persevering when faced with adversity, rather than a personal trait or characteristic the service member possesses. Participant 3 noted that, for their spouse, resilience was “the ability to adapt to changes that are beyond your control . . . adapting to situations in an optimistic and positive way.” Participant 6 stated that resilience for their spouse meant an “ability to bounce back from a hardship.” One participant asked their spouse to comment specifically about their definition and provided the following definition in a follow-up with the interviewer: “Resilience is how you persevere in difficult circumstances. It’s not about how hard you fall, but how quick you can get back up from being knocked down” (Participant 2 [P2]).
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