The importance of leadership in Soldiers' nutritional behaviors: results from the Soldier Fueling Initiative program evaluation.

Introduction: Improving Soldiers' nutritional habits continues to be a concern of the US Army, especially amidst increasing obesity and high injury rates. This study examines leadership influence on nutritional behaviors within the context of the Soldier Fueling Initiative, a program providing nutrition education and improved dining facility menus to Soldiers in Basic Combat Training (BCT) and Advanced Individual Training (AIT).

Methods: A mixed methods design using surveys (N=486) and focus groups (N=112) was used to collect data at Fort Jackson, SC, and Fort Eustis, VA, in 2011.

Nutrition as a component of the performance triad: how healthy eating behaviors contribute to soldier performance and military readiness.

Objective: Nutrition is a critical element of Soldier health and performance. Food choices, meal timing, and dietary intake behaviors contribute to nutritional fitness. The objectives of this study were to describe Soldier dietary behaviors and quantify the association between healthy eating behaviors and demographic, lifestyle, and psychosocial factors.

Resilience training for functioning adults: program description and preliminary findings from a pilot investigation.

It has previously been asserted that the construct of resilience holds great promise for diverse high-risk populations and that resilience may be an attribute that can be acquired through training. A rich body of literature suggests the strengths that comprise resilience. This paper describes a resilience training program based upon the identified strengths of resilience and provides additional preliminary data from a pilot investigation which lend support to the idea that resilience can be acquired through training.