Evaluation of an inpatient preventive treatment program for soldiers returning from deployment.

Background: Since 1999, the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) have been conducting 3-weeks preventive treatment programs aimed at psychological resource-strengthening in soldiers returning from deployment.

Methods: Five hundred participants of these programs received the Posttraumatic Stress Scale 10 (PTSS-10) before and after treatment and the rehabilitation assessment questionnaire of the German statutory pension insurance body. Sixty control group subjects received the PTSS-10 twice in an interval of 4-5 months without therapeutic interventions.