A Bucks New University graduate has seen research from his master's degree published in Psychology Today after exploring what keeps frontline paramedics going through some of the most difficult parts of their working lives.
Dr. Mike Matthews, a visiting professor with Bucks' Tactical Athlete Performance Centre (TAPC), authored the article describing MSc Human Performance Optimisation graduate Nicholas Kilpatrick’s dissertation as one of his series of blogs on the topic of human performance and resilience.
The piece, 'Moral Virtues in Context: Meaning and Purpose in the London Ambulance Service', grew out of Nick's master's dissertation.
Nick, originally from Australia, has worked as a paramedic in a number of frontline ambulance settings in the UK for more than 10 years. He had been considering postgraduate study for some time but wanted something that went beyond learning new clinical skills.
He said: "I had been looking for a master's program for a decade, but most options for paramedics focus on acquiring new medical skills for promotions.
“I wanted to focus on serving the community and supporting my colleagues, so when this human performance optimisation programme came up, I applied immediately.”
His dissertation looked at meaning and purpose among frontline ambulance staff, including the role of moral virtue and character strengths.
Nick wanted to understand what happened to those values through years of frontline work, particularly when staff are exposed to situations that can challenge their beliefs while still being expected to remain compassionate and make clear decisions under pressure.
His research found that altruistic and humanistic values are central to why people joined and remained in frontline healthcare roles.
But it also highlighted another challenge. Nick found that meaning and purpose could be affected when staff felt their work conflicted with what they believed to be right, including because of organisational and wider pressures facing healthcare services.
For Professor Matthews, the research provided an opportunity to take his longstanding work on character and moral virtues into another demanding professional environment.
He said: "I have engaged in research on moral virtues and character strengths for 20 years, mostly in the military context. Among soldiers, positive virtues and character are instrumental to both morale, performance and resilience. So, when I met Nick and learned about his interests in this domain among London Ambulance Service paramedics, it seemed like a natural extension of my research on soldiers."
Professor Matthews said technical ability was important but could not be separated from character and values when considering long-term performance.
"In the short run, high competence may be enough to succeed in a particular situation," he said. "But moral virtues and a sense of meaning and purpose are needed to sustain performance over the long run."
Returning to education after 10 years was daunting for Nick, particularly while working full-time, but he said the support at Bucks helped him manage the demands of the course.
The publication in Psychology Today has been particularly significant for Nick because the website was one he used himself while working on his dissertation.
He said: "It feels full circle because I actually used Psychology Today articles to help understand and form some of the concepts for my dissertation. The research only scratches the surface of how we can safeguard frontline personnel. I hope frontline staff read this and reconnect with why they started their roles, and I hope employers consider how they can better support the core meaning and purpose that keeps their staff in these roles."
The MSc Human Performance Optimisation programme is aimed at professionals working in high-stakes fields like emergency services and the military, bringing together areas including physical performance, cognitive capability and psychological resilience.