Wisén Niclas, Larsson Gerry, Risling Mårten, Arborelius Ulf
Department of Experimental Traumatology, Institution of Neuroscience at Karolinska Institute, Solna, Stockholm 171 65, Sweden.
Department of Security, Strategy and Leadership, Defence University, Karlstad 653 40, Sweden.
Mil Med. 2022 Jan 3;188(7-8):e2126-32. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usab542.
Mental health issues from intense or prolonged stress are a common concern in regard to military deployment. Deployments can objectively vary in stress exposure, but it is the individuals' perception of that stress that affects sustainability, mental health, and combat fitness, which calls for the need of a protocol to evaluate and maintain a current estimation of stress impact. So, how can we assess the impact of stressors during different phases of deployment?
We used three psychological self-rating forms, the PSS14-Perceived Stress Scale, SMBM-Shirom Melamed Burnout Measure, and KSQ-Karolinska Sleep Questionnaire, to measure the impact of stress before (T1), during (T2), and at homecoming (T3). We also wanted to see if T1 or T2 results could predict T3 results to be able to better prepare the homecoming program.The forms were handed out to Swedish soldiers deployed in Mali in 2017. The forms were collected as a way to assess the status of the mental health load at three timepoints based on the personnel function as a way to assess the current "psychological fitness level".
The results show that stress measured using PSS14 was high at homecoming. The same result was observed for SMBM. No measures from T1 or T2 could however predict the T3 results.
Taken together, we found that screening of all contingent staff is relatively easy and provides personnel with relevant data on mental health and stress at the current time. We also found that test results correlated between T1 and T2 but not with T3. This indicates that there might be different stressors that affect staff at different timepoints.
高强度或长期压力引发的心理健康问题是军事部署中普遍关注的问题。部署中的压力暴露程度客观上存在差异，但个体对压力的认知会影响可持续性、心理健康和战斗适应性，这就需要一个协议来评估并维持对压力影响的当前估计。那么，我们如何评估部署不同阶段压力源的影响呢？
我们使用了三种心理自评量表，即PSS14感知压力量表、SMBM希罗姆-梅拉梅德倦怠量表和KSQ卡罗林斯卡睡眠问卷，来测量部署前（T1）、部署期间（T2）和回国时（T3）的压力影响。我们还想看看T1或T2的结果是否能够预测T3的结果，以便更好地筹备回国计划。这些量表发放给了2017年部署在马里的瑞典士兵。收集这些量表是为了基于人员职能在三个时间点评估心理健康负荷状况，以此评估当前的“心理适应水平”。
结果显示，使用PSS14测得的回国时压力较高。SMBM也得到了相同结果。然而，T1或T2的测量结果均无法预测T3的结果。
总体而言，我们发现对所有特遣部队人员进行筛查相对容易，并且能为人员提供有关当前心理健康和压力的相关数据。我们还发现，T1和T2的测试结果相互关联，但与T3无关。这表明在不同时间点可能存在不同的压力源影响人员。
