Self Awareness Exercise

Why is self-assessment relevant for providers?

An important component of working with any culture is to understand your own biases, expectations, and beliefs about members of a cultural community. On this section of the website, self-assessment exercises will allow you to explore what some of those assumptions might be for you as a provider, as an essential first step in becoming more culturally competent.

Click on each tab below to answer questions about your experiences, beliefs, and practices related to military culture. By increasing your own self-awareness you may uncover hidden biases which influence your reactions to and interactions with Service members, Veterans and their families.

My Effort to Welcome Service Members & Veterans

Strongly AgreeAgreeNot SureDisagreeStrongly Disagree
I have no way of knowing which of my patients are Service members or Veterans.
I evaluate the influence of military culture for all of my Service member and Veteran patients.
I ask every Service member and Veteran about their military deployment experiences, including combat and its aftermath.
Asking about someone’s military service is intrusive.
I wouldn't know how to respond if a Service member said "you can't help because you’ve never been there".
I can easily identify with Service members and am confident I can show that I fit in and understand their culture.

My Social Views

Strongly AgreeAgreeNot SureDisagreeStrongly Disagree
People who like or are comfortable around firearms are inherently dangerous.
Firearms themselves are not inherently dangerous or bad.
By definition, someone who has killed another human will have moral or ethical issues.
People who serve in the military or law enforcement have a higher calling to serve.
People who go into service or law enforcement are on a power trip or are lacking and need structure.
People who go into service or law enforcement are patriotic.
Only poor people join the military as a career.
Clubs and teams like boy/girl scouts, sports teams, military, etc. are just social orders that foster dependence and deemphasize or stifle individualism.
Being a part of a team or of something bigger than yourself teaches valuable life lessons.
The role of the government, and specifically the DoD, is to protect and defend our way of life.
The Department of Defense should be a significantly smaller part of the government.
The invasion of any country is justified if that country poses a threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in that region.

My Beliefs about War & National Security

Strongly AgreeAgreeNot SureDisagreeStrongly Disagree
War is justifiable if it stops an otherwise unstoppable aggressor while inflicting minimal damage to persons and property.
The moral justification for war is important for Service members to make sense of their own sacrifices and their being called upon to kill others.
In war, injustices are committed on all sides, and the responsibility is shared equally by society and Service members.
Regardless of whether war is justifiable, I do not want to support the military in my capacity as a health care professional.
I am glad there is a military to protect us, but my preference is that I, or anyone in my family, will not serve.
I am opposed to war and believe that there is a peaceful way to resolve any crisis.

My Beliefs about the Military, Military Members and Families

Strongly AgreeAgreeNot SureDisagreeStrongly Disagree
I think military service is a good thing.
All Service members are rigid.
The military fosters dependence on the group; everyone thinks alike.
Military members epitomize strength and courage.
I feel like military families (spouses and children) deserve pity because they didn’t "sign up for this."
Military families have to deal with terrible suffering.
Military families are strong and committed.
Military family members have to subjugate themselves to the military or Service member.
Military family members can't talk about problems with their spouse, or it will affect the member's career.
There are not enough services provided to military family members.
I would be supportive if my own teenage son or daughter told me they wanted to enlist in a military service branch.