Sexual Misconduct (SM) has been associated with adverse health outcomes in military populations such as increased rates of depression, substance use, sexual health problems and PTSD.

SM in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF)

In 2018, 70% of actively serving Regular Force CAF members reported seeing, hearing, or experiencing some sort of SM during the previous 12 months of military service

Female-identifying members are about 5 times more likely to report being the target of SM. In 2018, 4.3% of Regular Force and 7.0% of Reservist female personnel reported being sexually assaulted during active service

Risk factors for SM include being female, younger, single, indigenous, disabled, LGBTQ2+, and a junior non-commissioned member

Community of Practice

To support enhanced research and treatment in these areas, Canadian stakeholders (i.e., military members, Veterans, and clinicians, as well as researchers and policy makers from Veterans Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence,) are working together to create an operational plan and to establish key areas of focus that will inform next steps.

Key Areas For Action

Recruitment and training: CAF’s efforts to foster an environment of respect and resiliency need to start at the recruitment level. Training programs should be expanded to include such topics as moral dilemmas, emotional intelligence, SM awareness and ‘bystander’ training.

Culture change: in addition to efforts to empower minority groups within the CAF, a broader shift needs to be made from rules-based ethics (i.e., striving for equity by teaching tolerance) to value-based ethics (i.e., striving for equity by stressing everyone’s unique contributing value )

Research: collaborative research should include investigators from a range of backgrounds who work to define and quantify the issue; examine the well-being impacts of SM; and explore the links between SM and moral injury.

Treatment: Finding the appropriate level of care for each individual is important and a variety of traditional and innovative treatments should be considered. Developing community-based therapies specific to SM will build skills where needed and help affected members process traumatic experiences.

Source

Brown, A., Millman, H., Easterbrook, B., Heber, A., Park, R., Lanius, R., Nazarov, A., Jetly, R., Stanley-Aikens, R., Sanderson, C., Hutchins, C., Darte, K., Hall, A.L., Brémault-Phillips, S., Smith-MacDonald, L., Doak, D., Oakley, T., Nicholson, A.A., Pichtikova, M., Smith, P., Mulligan, A., Byerlay, C., & McKinnon, M.C. . Working Together to Address Sexual Misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces. Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health; October 2021.

https://jmvfh.utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.3138/jmvfh-2021-0033