Academic Centre for Defence Mental Health, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, 10 Cutcombe Road, London SE5 9RJ, UK.
Occup Med (Lond). 2012 Apr;62(3):188-95. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqr217. Epub 2012 Jan 12.
Third location decompression (TLD) refers to the initial process, undertaken by military personnel at the end of an operational deployment, whereby adjustment from military operations commences. TLD has been shown to be useful for personnel in formed units (FU).
To examine the subjective utility of TLD for personnel deployed as individual augmentees (IAs) by comparing their experience with FU personnel.
One hundred and twenty-nine IAs and 121 FU personnel completed a short survey at the end of the decompression period asking about operational exposures, perceived usefulness, stigma, concerns about readjustment and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS).
The strongest predictor of perceived utility was the desire to participate prior to arrival at the facility. FU personnel were more likely to want to participate in TLD than IAs (60% versus 30%); however, on completion, IAs reported high usefulness ratings with 78% of IAs and 84% of FU personnel finding it useful or a little useful. More FU personnel reported substantial PTSS, reporting that high numbers of PTSS were associated with finding the briefings that dealt with traumatic stress useful. Personnel reporting substantial operational exposures also reported greater levels of PTSS.
IAs found TLD to be as useful as FU personnel; therefore, exclusion from the TLD process is not warranted. Military commanders should consider restricting TLD to both IA and FU personnel deemed to be at increased risk of a difficult adjustment due to greater operational exposure. Our data suggest that smaller numbers of IA personnel would fall into this group.
第三次地点减压（TLD）是指军事人员在行动部署结束时开始的初始过程，即从军事行动开始调整。TLD 已被证明对建制部队（FU）的人员有用。
通过比较个体增派人员（IA）和 FU 人员的经历，来检查 TLD 对部署人员的主观有用性。
129 名 IA 和 121 名 FU 人员在减压期结束时完成了一项简短的调查，询问他们在行动中的暴露情况、感知的有用性、耻辱感、对调整的担忧和创伤后应激症状（PTSS）。
感知有用性的最强预测因素是在到达设施之前参与的愿望。FU 人员比 IA 人员更有可能希望参加 TLD（60%比 30%）；然而，在完成后，IA 人员报告了很高的有用性评分，78%的 IA 人员和 84%的 FU 人员认为 TLD 有用或有点用。更多的 FU 人员报告了大量的 PTSS，报告说大量的 PTSS 与处理创伤应激的简报有用有关。报告大量操作暴露的人员也报告了更高水平的 PTSS。
IA 人员发现 TLD 与 FU 人员一样有用；因此，将其排除在 TLD 过程之外是没有道理的。军事指挥官应考虑将 TLD 限制在那些因操作暴露而增加调整困难风险的 IA 和 FU 人员。我们的数据表明，较少数量的 IA 人员会属于这一类。
