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Melissa Boudreau is a 2015 graduate of the PsyD Program in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University, New England

Dissertation Committee

Gargi Roysircar, PhD, Committee Chair
David Junno, PsyD, Committee Member
Brittany Hall-Clark, PhD, Committee Member

Keywords

African American soldiers, PTSD, posttraumatic stress disorder, positive psychology, multicultural competence, social justice advocacy

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2015

Abstract

The study develops a mental health prevention program for African American soldiers called, Africentric Resilience Training (ART). The goal of ART is to train soldiers to be psychologically fit, just as they train to be physically fit in the military. The ART curriculum aims to increase soldiers’ resilience and capacity to flourish, while educating them on the occurrence and prevention of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. This program is founded on the principles and structure of the current Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness (CSF2) program in the Army (CSF2, 2012). ART is unique in its utilization of a culturally and racially modified approach that addresses the culture-specific and contextual influences on African American soldiers, such as racism. In addition, the conceptual framework of ART incorporates positive psychology and multicultural competence principles. ART’s curriculum outlines both content and process changes to the original CSF2 program. The four pillars of ART include: (a) culturally sensitive assessments of African American soldiers; (b) culturally sensitive online training modules; (c) resilience training by multiculturally competent trainers; and (d) social justice advocacy town hall meetings. The fourth pillar of social justice advocacy, the most unique aspect of this program, is a professional attitude of psychologists regarding societal and institutional responsiveness to marginalized societies or oppressed communities by addressing racial disparity in access, equity, and mental health treatment, and in the case of ART, for African American soldiers.

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