Table 1
Additional Quotes from Participant Interviews.
| KEY THEMES | PARTICIPANT QUOTES | |
|---|---|---|
| Trusted social support | Well, the thing is too the bar is really so much higher when you’re dealing with veterans, it really is … They’re gonna put a little more weight into what the other guy is saying as opposed to so and so with the license on the wall. | It’s [Operation Song] a safe place…The other thing that most VA people don’t understand, cognitive researcher—whoever, is after you go through that experience of any of this therapy, you need a place to come down. They don’t offer that … there’s no place that they can get back to their squad to their safe place. |
| Uniquely skilled songwriters | I think that the way Operation Song goes about approaching it with true—I mean these guys are freakin’ tremendous songwriters. They are the best in the country … I really feel like that, that has an even greater ability to reach people simply because you know these guys are great songwriters and not only great songwriters, but they are there for the right reasons | |
| A setting that promoted authenticity | Maybe reiterate who I am. Made me comfortable with who I am … It made me comfortable in my own skin, you know? I didn’t—I wasn’t worried about tryin’ to impress, or I wasn’t worried about, you know, it was a fun environment that was comfortable enough that I could share. | The whole thing, I mean from the time you meet the writers that we, you know, that you’re workin’ with to the time you end with a CD in your hand that has songs and stuff on it. That whole experience will never go away. It’s, it’s almost like that little boost to once you’re out, or once the program is over or whatever, you know, it leaves you feel so good, in a calm that for me … it’s fun, its enjoyable. |
| Listening to the songs | It was a lot different than I thought it would be. Yeah, I don’t get very emotional anymore for a various number of reasons, but I got a little more emotional than I thought I would, so it was very good | It’s one thing to sit around and think it in your head, you know, a certain scenario or certain situation. Whatever, but it’s another to hear it. And you know anytime music’s involved there’s feeling also, I mean, you hear it you feel it. And I think the whole process of Operation Song is tangible. |
| Songwriting | So we sit down with [songwriter] … and he goes, “well tell me about [friend]” … it felt good. I was telling his story, but in a different way than I ever have to a total stranger, which I would never ever, ever, ever do. I always would tell his story to other veterans I served with as I moved on through my career, different units, or veterans at the vet center, or another veteran, but never anybody outside of that. Or my story, at all. So, I was able to get a lot out that I thought I probably needed to after 5 years. | It’s a little bit personal and I don’t like to put myself that far out there and I don’t think that many of the other veterans necessarily do either. I think that what we get from writing songs like this is it helps us connect dots in our lives and whether you know other people aren’t necessarily gonna see it, but it causes … one’s concentration to go to a place that they’re not used to normally putting it I guess, when it comes to writing music. And I think that that helps influence posttraumatic growth. |
[i] Note: Participant quotes that were not fully quoted within the main text and quotes that add support to the key themes are listed above.