Understanding resilience as it affects the transition from the UK Armed Forces to civilian life

Abstract: In the years following the release of the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Armed Forces Covenant1 and Strategy for Veterans, there has been growing interest among policy officials, charity representatives and academic experts in understanding the transition process for Service leavers. While recent evidence suggests that resilience is important to successful transition, no systematic review has been undertaken on the subject of UK Service leaver resilience and transition prior to this study. To address this research gap, RAND Europe was commissioned by the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) to undertake a literature review comprised of a systematic review of academic literature, a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) of academic and grey literature, and a scoping review of ongoing research on UK Service leaver resilience and transition. This study aims to improve understanding of whether, and if so how, resilience can affect transition pathways and outcomes for UK Service leavers.