Differences in military personnel's hardiness depending on their leadership levels and combat experience: An exploratory pilot study.

Constant challenges and permanently stressful conditions at military workplaces demand high levels of hardiness for military personnel. We aimed to determine possible differences in Ukrainian military personnel's hardiness depending on their leadership levels and existing combat experience. The study involved 543 Ukrainian service members (85.8% male and 14.2% female, aged 18 to 61 years). We used the Professional Hardiness Questionnaire and the Brief Resilience Scale. The obtained data showed that the higher leadership levels the military personnel had, the higher their hardiness was (up to the company commander level in our study). We revealed a significant predominance of professional challenge acceptance in the structure of military personnel's hardiness, followed by professional control and professional commitment. This proportion of professional hardiness components did not differ depending on service members' leadership levels. Additionally, we showed significantly higher hardiness stability after participating in combat operations in military leaders compared to service members without subordinates. Our findings necessitate hardiness examination during military personnel selection and its development during military training, in particular for deployment.

Military personnel's stress reactivity during pre-deployment in a war zone.

Many studies have been conducted on the numerous negative post-deployment outcomes for military personnel. However, data on service members' pre-deployment stress reactivity are absent. This is a serious gap in existing research, as stress has an important regulatory role. This study aimed to determine possible manifestations of military personnel's stress reactivity during pre-deployment in a war zone in eastern Ukraine. The study involved 270 Ukrainian service members (all male, aged 18 to 58 years). Sample 1 (n = 108) were preparing to be deployed for the first time, sample 2 (n = 84) were preparing to be deployed and had previous experience of deployment, and sample 3 (n = 108) were not preparing to deploy and had no previous deployment experience. We used the Ukrainian adaptation of the Giessen Subjective Complaints List (GBB-24), the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), the Short Screening Scale for DSM-IV posttraumatic stress disorder and the Combat Exposure Scale (CES). We found that indicators for physical complaints, psychological problems and psychopathological and posttraumatic symptoms among service members from samples 1 and 2 were significantly higher than those of sample 3 in 15 of 18 cases (p < 0.001-0.05). The indicators obtained for sample 2 were higher than those of sample 1 in six of nine cases (p < 0.001-0.05). Both our study hypotheses were confirmed. The present findings can be used to develop efficient psychological interventions for military personnel during pre-deployment in a war zone.

Examination of military personnel’s changed psychological statesduring long-term deployment in a war zone

Una de las formas más eficaces para prevenir las consecuencias negativas del despliegue en la zona militar para la salud mental de los militares es diagnosticar su estado psicológico. En el presente estudio se determinan las particularidades de los cambios en el estado psicológico de los militares (n = 192) durante el despliegue de seis meses en la zona militar en el este de Ucrania. Los resultados obtenidos confirmaron ambas hipótesis formuladas: en cuanto a la posibilidad de determinar, sobre la base del diagnóstico del estado psicológico, el plazo recomendado para el despliegue de los militares en la línea de demarcación en el este de Ucrania, que es de tres meses. Así como también sobre las posibles diferencias significativas en la dinámica del estado psicológico de los militares que tienen y no tienen experiencia en el despliegue. Asimismo, se argumenta la necesidad de monitorear el estado psicológico de los militares durante el despliegue con el propósito de prevenir oportunamente las consecuencias negativas para su salud mental y para la ejecución exitosa de las tareas de la subunidad militar.(AU)

Examining military personnel’s psychological states is an effec-tive way to prevent negative mental health consequences during their de-ployment in a war zone. The present study identifies changes in the psy-chological states of military personnel (n=192) during a 6-month deploy-ment in a war zone in eastern Ukraine. The results confirmed both of our proposed hypotheses. First, with regard to time limits on military person-nel’s deployment on the front lines in eastern Ukraine on the basis of ex-amined psychological states, the estimated recommended deployment du-ration was three months. Second, we found significant differences in the dynamics of the psychological states of service members with versus with-out previous deployment experience. The results also substantiate that mil-itary personnel’s psychological states should be monitored during deploy-ment in order to prevent negative mental health consequences and to en-sure that military units successfully accomplish their tasks.(AU)

Characteristic impacts of combat stressors on posttraumatic stress disorder in Ukrainian military personnel who participated in the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is a leading health problem among military personnel involved in armed conflicts. The current study identified and examined the influence of combat stressors leading to the development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Ukrainian military personnel (N= 188) who participated in the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine for a period of 4 to 16 months. The results showed that the leading combat stressors regarding Ukrainian service members' predisposition to PTSD were as follows: "witnessing someone get hit by incoming or outgoing rounds"; "being surrounded by the enemy"; "danger of being injured or killed, ambushed, in other very dangerous situations"; "corpses or blood"; "smells of gases, corpses, etc."; "stressors of family life"; "fear of a respondent's own death"; "inability to change a respondent's own living conditions"; "ruined buildings, machinery, structures, landscape"; "physical killing of an enemy"; "intense interpersonal conflicts"; "monotony of the surrounding conditions"; "stressors of a moral and ethical nature"; "dissatisfied biological and social needs"; and "long-term loads that cause fatigue." This study found a significant difference between Ukrainian military personnel's subjective perception of the power of a combat stressor and its real ability to cause Posttraumatic Stress Disorder symptoms. Those stressors that were subjectively evaluated by military personnel as more significant did not increase Posttraumatic Stress Disorder symptoms. These results may be useful for the prevention and treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in military personnel involved in armed conflicts

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