Executive Summary • MoD provides an occupational military mental health service, where clinical decisions are safety critical due to the environment in which armed forces personnel operate. • Statistics provided from defense are accurate, however, trying to contextualise them by comparing them with the wider population is problematic, as the threshold for referral is much lower. • Only 8% of UK veterans were correctly registered at a PHC practice. • Military mental health practice is unique, and to understand the issues facing current service provision, the statistical data needs to be annually supplemented with purposeful qualitative data from those working in defence mental health. • A priority should be afforded to the inclusion of veteran peer researchers within studies to improve sample selection, interpretation and understanding of results. • There needs to be an agenda to broaden methodological expertise and cooperation within the sector and a move away from a predominately one-dimensional research approach. The only way that the questions in this enquiry will be answered, is through a multiple methods and multiple institution collaboration.

To help the British armed forces minimise mental health problems while undertaking military duties, operational psychological support is provided by military mental health nurses. This series of two articles is part of the first qualitative research completed in Afghanistan by British armed forces into the effectiveness of the military mental health nursing role. The authors aim to increase understanding of the factors that affect the delivery of nursing care during an operational deployment, including educational and clinical competency, multiprofessional and multinational boundaries, and the challenges of providing nursing care for both military personnel and local nationals. This article, the first of the two-part series, looks at the set up of the study, while the second article (featured in the next issue of JCN) will look at the study findings