The South African service (SAPS) has a reputation for being resilient despite the amounts of trauma they are exposed to. Research has shown that this occupation is one of the most stressful. However, research surrounding the SAPS suggests that police work is one of society’s most stressful occupations. The way in which individuals respond to such traumatisations is dependent on numerous factors, two being personality and coping. In so far, this study investigated three main areas around police reservists – a unit within the SAPS - in order to understand their responses to trauma: whether personality factors were related to post-traumatic stress symptomatology (PTSS) in the police reservist population; whether coping moderated the relationship between personality factors and PTSS; whether a personality factors predict coping style. A quantitative analysis was conducted among a sample of 36 reservists in the Gauteng area of South Africa. This study found that the relationship between Neuroticism and PTSS is mediated by coping, specifically Emotion-Focused and Dysfunctional Coping styles. A relationship between Conscientiousness and PTSS showed to be prevalent, however this is not due to the mediation affect of coping. Furthermore, Neuroticism and Extraversion showed to predict coping style. Specifically, Neuroticism showed to affect EFC and DC and Extraversion showed to affect EFC. The descriptive statistics showed that this sample of police reservists is suffering from PTSD. Implications of these findings are discussed and directions for future research are explored.

The purpose of this research study was to explore female service members, reservists, and veterans feelings regarding service related trauma and what they want clinicians to know regarding treatment. This was a qualitative study that used a snowball sample to interview seven women; data collected was transcribed from recordings, analyzed, and categorized into themes. Qualitative themes included vulnerability, connection to clinician, and mental health stigma. Potential changes endorsed included understanding gender roles, clinician’s ability to build better therapeutic relationships, and decreasing mental health stigma. Limitations included not being able to generalize the study as service members, reservists, and veterans were not looked at independently from one another. Recommendations for the social work profession include upholding the dignity and worth of each client, understanding client’s perceptions, and advocating for policy changes. Future research will be fundamental in understanding how to provide better mental health treatment to females in combat military roles.