Clerical Collars and Military Coats: Sense of Coherence among Military Chaplains in the Swedish Armed Forces

Photo: Lina Eriksson

Posted by: Rasmus Carlsson

Pastoral care administered by military chaplains serves to strengthen the existential health and mental fitness among military personnel, leading to a higher mental combat readiness. In Sweden, this line of work has a long history, dating back to the early 1600^th century. In those days, priests would spur the God-fearing troops in preparation for battle. Today, however, one of their purposes is to strengthen the sense of coherence among military personnel, according to Swedish Chief of Chaplains, General Jenny Ahlén (Nilsson, 2022). Such an explicit stance is a recognition of the notion that mentally robust soldiers ceteris paribus will do better on the battlefield and be better able to follow ethical codes of conduct so as to act in line with national and international laws of war (Rådmark Lundqvist, 2022; see also Antonovsky, 2022). Swedish military chaplaincy aims not to affirm religious faith or practices but to strengthen ethical and moral values and to “contribute to SoC (sense of coherence) and thus increase the combat readiness, purpose, mental robustness, and moral tenacity and resilience” regardless of individual beliefs or religious denominations (Försvarsmakten [Swedish Armed Forces], 2023, p. 104, my translation). This strategic endeavor is very much in line with the concept of military mental fitness that Avishai Antonovsky (2022) described—an essential skill set that can be taught, learned, and trained for regardless of individuals’ backgrounds.

In his research among Ukrainian military chaplains in active combat theaters, Swedish sociologist, priest, and officer Jan Grimell (2024a, p. 18) stated: “War destroys fundamental feelings of safety, security, predictability and stability – the sense of coherence [emphasis added].” Recognizing the need to elucidate how military soul care might contribute to building mental fitness among soldiers (Grimell, 2024b), I conducted a study (Carlsson, 2024) among Swedish military chaplains to investigate the association between sense of coherence in the workplace (Work-SoC; Center of Salutogenesis, 2021) on the one hand and loyalty on the other. Loyalty is an important psychosocial construct in the military profession (Engelkes, 2024), and I was curious as to whether chaplains’ professional loyalty would be directed towards loyalty objects related to various private, professional, or societal values. For example, loyalty to one’s “battle buddies” is highly valued and easily predicted among military personnel. Engelkes’s newly constructed Swedish Military Loyalty Scale (SMiLS) was used to measure this loyalty construct.

Given earlier research on military chaplaincy and soul care, chaplains might experience conflicts between their different roles and identities as civilian priests vs. military chaplains on the one hand and specific objects of loyalty on the other (Carlsson, 2024). In line with the working hypothesis, the results showed clear links between a strong sense of workplace coherence and chaplains’ loyalty to their colleagues and society (see Table 1). This should be contrasted with the lack of indicators showing any associations between Work-SoC and loyalty to entities such as chaplains’ personal values, close family, or religious faith, which were otherwise speculated to exist. The average Work-SoC was 5.21 on its 7-point Likert scale (SD = 0.95; Mdn = 5.33). Effect sizes varied from ρ = 0.28 to ρ = 0.37, indicating medium-sized correlations. It should be noted that the study had a small sample size, with statistical power only reaching 50 percent for most associations, rendering the results inconclusive. Still, the patterns suggest a strong commitment to helping others, driven by workplace clarity and purpose. Simply put, military chaplains are loyal to their fellow humans, at least as seen in the light of their sense of coherence in the workplace. These findings suggest that workplace clarity and coherence—whether in a military unit, hospital, or office—can foster loyalty to shared goals and values. This is especially relevant in high-stress professions where teamwork and mental fitness are critical. See a table with full results here.

To conclude, the mission to strengthen mental fitness among soldiers is linked to military chaplains’ sense of loyalty to their fellow human beings. This loyalty, in turn, is positively associated with their sense of coherence in the workplace. Therefore, the chaplaincy development in armed forces seeking to cultivate mentally robust personnel should be guided strategically by initiatives to foster such a sense of coherence not only in troops but also within the chaplaincy profession itself.

Notes: The Swedish version of the Work-SoC scale (Center of Salutogenesis, 2021) used in this study was translated and adapted from the English and German versions by the author, an experienced professional non-fiction translator. It was deemed sufficient for use in the context of the study but has yet to be scientifically validated, to which end the author would gladly contribute should anyone endeavor to do so.

This blog article was prepared based on a psychology bachelor’s thesis published in Swedish. For confidentiality purposes, details concerning the number or characteristics of military study participants are not disclosed. The author is currently a master’s student of public health sciences at Stockholm University.

References

Antonovsky, A. (2022). Salutogenesis and Mental Health Promotion in Military Settings. In M. B. Mittelmark, G. F. Bauer, L. Vaandrager, J. M. Pelikan, S. Sagy, M. Eriksson, B. Lindström, & C. Meier Magistretti (Eds.), The Handbook of Salutogenesis [Internet] (2nd ed.). Springer. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK584128/

Carlsson, R. H. A. (2024). Prästkrage och vapenrock: Militära själavårdares lojalitet och känsla av sammanhang i Försvarsmakten [Clerical Collars and Military Coats: Military Chaplains’ Loyalty and Sense of Coherence in the Swedish Armed Forces] [Bachelor’s thesis, Högskolan Kristianstad]. https://researchportal.hkr.se/sv/studentTheses/pr%C3%A4stkrage-och-vapenrock

Center of Salutogenesis. (2021, May 28). Work-related Sense of Coherence («Work-SoC»). University of Zurich EBPI. Retrieved April 21, 2024, from https://stars-society.org/scales/

Engelkes, T. (2024). Loyal until death (?): The nature, measurement and predictors of loyalty in a military context [Doctoral dissertation, Stockholm University]. https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-225889

Försvarsmakten [Swedish Armed Forces]. (2023). Svensk soldat och sjöman 2023.

Grimell, J. (2024a). Ukrainian Military Chaplaincy in War: An Introduction. Health and Social Care Chaplaincy, Early access to forthcoming articles, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1558/hscc.31916 (Advance online publication)

Grimell, J. (2024b). Understanding the presence of military priests conducting military soul care in the Swedish armed forces: A medical sociological perspective. Frontiers in Sociology, 9, Article 1408067. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2024.1408067

Nilsson, E. (2022, February 9). Fältprost Jenny Ahlén om själavårdens roll i Försvarsmakten. Officerstidningen, 2022(1), 24–29. https://officerstidningen.se/mental-resiliens-och-andlig-kraft-ar-avgorande-for-krigforingsformagan/

Rådmark Lundqvist, H. (2022, May 12). Ett moraliskt och etiskt perspektiv minskar risken för krigsbrott. Försvarsmakten. Retrieved May 14, 2024, from https://www.forsvarsmakten.se/sv/aktuellt/2022/05/ett-moraliskt-och-etiskt-perspektiv-minskar-risken-for-krigsbrott/