183 8 SUMMARY positive (non-)disclosure experiences for sustainable employment and well-being at work. Those with a positive experience with disclosing, reported significantly more support from their supervisors, showing the crucial role the supervisor has in sustainable employment and well-being at work of military personnel. Moreover, those with negative experiences with disclosure reported significantly more stigma-related consequences of disclosure, indicating that mental health stigma played a key role in negative disclosure experiences, and thus in sustainable employment and well-being at work. The preference for self-management A recurring finding of this thesis was the high preference military personnel had to solve their own problems, instead of seeking treatment or disclosing their MHI to a supervisor. This preference for self-management appears to be higher for military personnel compared to Dutch workers in general. This is likely due to the military culture where there is a strong stance about enduring pain and being tough due to military training which focuses on skills and courage to face adversity as an emotionally ‘strong’ team member. Therefore, it is important that future research and interventions targeting treatment-seeking and disclosure in the military, take this high preference for selfmanagement into account. The importance of the supervisor The findings of the current thesis also showed the crucial role supervisors play in both treatment-seeking and disclosure decisions. The role of the supervisor is expected to be especially important in the military setting, due to the strong hierarchical structure in the military, making military personnel more dependent on their supervisors. Therefore, it is important that initiatives in the military that aim to support treatment-seeking and disclosure decisions, target the supervisor. These initiatives should aim to increase supervisors’ knowledge (mental health literacy) and attitudes, as a lack of knowledge (ignorance) and attitudes based on this lack of knowledge (prejudice) can lead to discrimination. Strengths and limitations In this section, several strengths and limitations related to the design of the studies in the current thesis will be discussed. Novel research topic within the Dutch military This thesis was the first to examine mental health stigma, MHI disclosure, and treatmentseeking within the Dutch military. Additionally, research on MHI disclosure in the military, in general, was very scarce. Furthermore, this thesis was the first to examine the direct association between MHI disclosure and sustainable employment and wellbeing at work.
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