Bin Zubair Usama, Mansoor S, Rana M H
Department of Medical, Mujahid Force Center, Bhimbher, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Department of Psychiatry, Yusra Medical and Dental College, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
J R Army Med Corps. 2015 Jun;161(2):127-31. doi: 10.1136/jramc-2014-000253. Epub 2014 Aug 28.
Military training is a stressful and unusual event. It may predispose individuals towards mental health problems. The stress of military training has been shown to result in depressive symptoms that can potentially influence the combat ability of a soldier. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms among recruits during military training in Northern Pakistan and analyse the associated socio-demographic factors.
The study was carried out at the Mujahid Force Center, Bhimber, in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in the North of Pakistan. This is one of the training institutes of the Pakistan Army. The sample population comprised of 313 adult men undergoing military training at Bhimber AJK. General Health Questionnaire 12 (GHQ-12) was used to screen for any psychiatric illness, and those with a score>4 were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to record the presence and severity of depressive symptoms. Age, service type (general duty soldier, cook or clerk), education, level of family income, marital status, tobacco smoking, use of naswar (tobacco based substance), worrying about future and social support status were correlated with depressive symptoms to evaluate the association of these factors with depression in the study population.
Out of 313 recruits screened with GHQ-12, 232 were found to have a score of 4 or more as an indicator of the presence of psychiatric morbidity, and had the BDI administered. Of these 232 recruits, 31.5% had no depressive symptoms, 41.4% had mild, 17.7% had moderate and 9.5% had severe depressive symptoms. With logistic regression, we found significant correlation among depressive symptoms and level of family income, worrying about future and lack of social support.
Prevalence of depressive symptoms was high among recruits. Special attention should be paid to recruits from low socioeconomic background and those who lack social support and who worry about the future.
军事训练是一项压力大且不寻常的活动。它可能使个体易患心理健康问题。军事训练的压力已被证明会导致抑郁症状，这可能会潜在影响士兵的作战能力。本研究旨在确定巴基斯坦北部军事训练期间新兵中抑郁症状的患病率，并分析相关的社会人口学因素。
该研究在巴基斯坦北部阿扎德克什米尔地区比姆伯的圣战者部队中心进行。这是巴基斯坦军队的训练机构之一。样本群体包括在比姆伯阿扎德克什米尔接受军事训练的313名成年男性。使用一般健康问卷12（GHQ - 12）筛查任何精神疾病，得分>4的人员接受贝克抑郁量表（BDI）测试，以记录抑郁症状的存在及严重程度。年龄、服役类型（普通士兵、厨师或职员）、教育程度、家庭收入水平、婚姻状况、吸烟、使用纳斯瓦尔（烟草类物质）、对未来的担忧以及社会支持状况与抑郁症状相关，以评估这些因素与研究人群中抑郁症的关联。
在313名接受GHQ - 12筛查的新兵中，232人得分4分或更高，作为存在精神疾病的指标，并接受了BDI测试。在这232名新兵中，31.5%没有抑郁症状，41.4%有轻度抑郁症状，17.7%有中度抑郁症状，9.5%有重度抑郁症状。通过逻辑回归分析，我们发现抑郁症状与家庭收入水平、对未来的担忧以及缺乏社会支持之间存在显著相关性。
新兵中抑郁症状的患病率较高。应特别关注社会经济背景较低、缺乏社会支持且对未来感到担忧的新兵。
