The family experience of the Invictus Games through a work family conflict lens: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

Abstract: The Invictus Games are an international adaptive sports competition for wounded, injured, and/or ill military members and veterans. Essential to the Games are the families and friends of the competitors, who are involved from selection to post-game. Though families are integral, their experiences are underexplored. Little research to date has focused on the families, and even less research has been conducted using a family science lens. Work–family conflict theory provides a way to examine the stressors and support that underlie the family experience. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis with a work–family conflict lens, this project explores the family members' perspectives of being at the Invictus Games. Participants were past family and friends from Canada (n = 5), the UK (n = 1) and Australia (n = 1). The results display that the Invictus Games can be a very positive experience for both the individual family members as well as the family as a whole. The results challenge the existing idea that participating in sports automatically results in work–family conflict. This project highlights the importance of family inclusion within and throughout military and veteran adaptive sport competitions. As the Invictus Games continue to grow, it is important to be intentional about how families are supported.