Assessing Military Mental Health during the Pandemic: A Five Country Collaboration.

Purpose Of Review: Members of a technical panel representing Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US collaborated to develop surveys designed to provide military leaders with information to guide decisions early in the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of this collaboration and a review of findings from the resulting body of work.

Recent Findings: While surveys pointed to relatively favorable mental health and perceptions of leadership among military personnel early in the pandemic, these observations did not reflect the experiences of personnel deployed in COVID-19 response operations, nor were these observations reflective of later stages of the pandemic.

Insufficient Sleep and Behavioral Health in the Military: A 5-Country Perspective.

Purpose Of Review: The goal of this paper was to highlight the degree to which sleep, behavioral health, and leader involvement were interrelated using data from militaries in five English-speaking countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the United States.

Recent Findings: Many service members reported sleeping fewer than the recommended 7 h/night: 34.9%, 67.

A moderated-mediation analysis of pathways in the association between Veterans' health and their spouse's relationship satisfaction: The importance of social support.

Introduction: Military personnel and Veterans are at increased risk of mental and physical health conditions, which can impact their families. Spouses often perform a vital role in caring for service members and Veterans facing illness or injury, which can lead to caregiver burden. In turn, this may contribute to relationship issues.

Using a Workplace Rehabilitation and Reintegration Program Tracker Tool to Explore Factors Associated With Return to Duty Among Ill/Injured Military Personnel: A Preliminary Analysis.

Introduction: A great deal of time and resources have been spent on developing and implementing evidence-based return to work programs over the past few decades, compelling researchers to better understand the factors associated with more favorable outcomes. Using data collected as part of a participant tracking system trial for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Return to Duty (RTD) program, analyses were conducted to better understand the trajectories of program participants and identify the factors associated with RTD.

Materials And Methods: Participants included 205 Regular Force CAF members from a single military base located in Eastern Canada who entered the RTD program during the trial period between April 2018 and March 2020.

Well-being of Canadian Armed Forces members during the COVID-19 pandemic: the influence of positive health behaviours.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has been linked to increased depression, anxiety and other adverse mental health outcomes. Understanding the behaviours that positively influence health is important for the development of strategies to maintain andimprove well-being during the pandemic.

Methods: This study focussed on Canadian Armed Forces Regular Force members (N = 13 668) who participated in the COVID-19 Defence Team Survey, administered between April and May 2020.

Trials and tribulations among members of Canada's Defence Team early in the pandemic: key insights from the COVID-19 Defence Team Survey.

Introduction: Due to the unprecedented impact of COVID-19, there is a need for research assessing pandemic-related challenges and stressors. The current study aimed to assess key concerns and general well-being among members of Canada's Defence Team, including Canadian Armed Forces personnel and members of the Department of National Defence (DND) Public Service.

Methods: The COVID-19 Defence Team Survey was administered electronically to Defence Team staff in April and May of 2020 and was completed by 13 688 Regular Force, 5985 Reserve Force and 7487 civilian DND Public Service personnel.

Adverse childhood experiences and mental health in military recruits: Exploring gender as a moderator.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have consistently been associated with adult psychopathology and are commonly reported among military populations, with women more likely to report many types of ACEs than men. Limited research has examined the role of gender in the association between ACEs and mental health in military populations. The current study assessed the significance of gender differences in ACEs and mental health and explored the associations among these variables in a sample of Canadian Armed Forces recruits/officer cadets.

Pandemic-Related Challenges and Organizational Support Among Personnel in Canada's Defense Establishment.

In the final week of March 2020, 2.8 million Canadians were away from their usual places of work and engaging in remote and/or telework to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 (Statistics Canada, 2020). The Government of Canada's Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) were no exception, with most members from the regular force (Reg F), the primary reserve force (P Res), and the DND public service (DND PS) working from home.

Validation of a general mental health self-efficacy assessment tool.

The aim of this study was to assess the validity of a 14-item mental health self-efficacy scale developed to assess the effectiveness of the Road to Mental Readiness (R2MR) - a program aimed at improving the well-being and mental health of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel. The validity of the scale was assessed through an analysis of data collected as part of a pilot study and a larger group randomized control trial (GRCT) on the effectiveness of R2MR administered to CAF noncommissioned member recruits during basic training. Using data collected for the pilot study ( 276), an initial review of items indicated a need to eliminate two redundant items and two items that were weakly correlated with other scale items.

The Mediating Role of Alexithymia in the Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Postdeployment Mental Health in Canadian Armed Forces Personnel.

Recent studies showing an association between adverse childhood experiences and the development of alexithymia in military personnel have generated interest regarding the role of alexithymia in the pathway linking childhood trauma exposure to mental health disorders. Accordingly, the current study was conducted to (a) examine the associations among adverse childhood experiences, alexithymia, and symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among recently deployed Canadian military personnel and (b) assess the mediating role of alexithymia in these associations. Data collected from 2,927 members of the Canadian Armed Forces at baseline and after their return from an overseas deployment were subjected to a prospective path analysis.

Factor structure of a coping measure in the 2013 Canadian Forces Mental Health Survey.

Background: Coping has been the subject of numerous studies over the past decades, yet significant debate remains regarding the structure of this construct.

Data And Methods: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on 2013 Canadian Forces Mental Health Survey (CFMHS) data to examine the factor structure of coping items. A total of 6,696 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Regular Force members completed a coping inventory that assessed 14 coping strategies (e.

Deployment-related trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder: does gender matter?

Military research has attempted to identify whether women have an increased vulnerability to mental health issues following deployment-related trauma, but findings have been mixed. Most studies have controlled for childhood abuse, but not other non-deployment trauma (e.g.

Psychosocial Pathways Linking Adverse Childhood Experiences to Mental Health in Recently Deployed Canadian Military Service Members.

Multiple pathways have been suggested to account for the relationship of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and well-being in adulthood, including interpersonal difficulties, the underestimation of one's sense of mastery, and a greater propensity to experience stressors later in life. This study was conducted to examine the association between ACEs and mental health in Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel, and the possible mediating roles of social support, mastery, and combat stressors in that relationship. The study consisted of a prospective analysis involving 3,319 CAF members upon their return from an overseas deployment.

Prospective Analysis of Premilitary Mental Health, Somatic Symptoms, and Postdeployment Postconcussive Symptoms.

Objectives: Many recent studies of service members returning from deployment have focused on the health impacts of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), including persistent postconcussive symptoms (PCS). However, cross-sectional study designs have made it difficult to understand the role of mental health in the etiology of persistent PCS.

Methods: Participants were 3319 military personnel (primarily men [90%] of 25-34 years [54%]) who had completed health surveys at basic training and after deployment, on average, 4.

A longitudinal pilot study of resilience in Canadian military personnel.

Research on psychological resilience is important for occupations involving routine exposure to trauma or critical events. Such research can allow for the identification of factors to target in training, education and intervention programs, as well as groups that may be at higher risk for mental health problems. Although efforts have been made to determine the individual characteristics that contribute to positive outcomes under stress, little is known about whether such characteristics are stable over time or how stressful events can impact psychological resilience in high-risk occupations such as military service.

Longitudinal analysis of psychological resilience and mental health in Canadian military personnel returning from overseas deployment.

The relationship between exposure to combat stressors and poorer postdeployment health is well documented. Still, some individuals are more psychologically resilient to such outcomes than others. Researchers have sought to identify the factors that contribute to resilience in order to inform resilience-building interventions.

Prospective multifactorial analysis of Canadian Forces basic training attrition.

The aim of this prospective study was to identify key predictors of attrition from Canadian Forces basic training. Baseline health data from 5,169 Canadian Forces recruits (85.4% men) collected using the Recruit Health Questionnaire were linked with administrative data on basic training releases.

A social-cognitive perspective of terrorism risk perception and individual response in Canada.

The volume of research on terrorism has increased since the events of September 11, 2001. However, efforts to develop a contextualized model incorporating cognitive, social-contextual, and affective factors as predictors of individual responses to this threat have been limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate a series of hypotheses drawn from such a model that was generated from a series of interviews with members of the Canadian public.

Health risk perceptions as mediators of socioeconomic differentials in health behaviour.

Differentials in health status and behaviour by socioeconomic status (SES) constitute a scientific and policy challenge. In this article, data from a national survey on Canadians' perceptions of population health risks were analysed to determine whether various types of health risk perceptions mediated SES differentials in health behaviour. As expected, health behaviours and risk perceptions both varied with SES.

Terrorism threats and preparedness in Canada: the perspective of the Canadian public.

Although Canada has not experienced a major terrorist attack, an increased global pending threat has put preparedness at the top of the Canadian government's agenda. Given its strong multicultural community and close proximity to the recently targeted United States, the Canadian experience is unique. However, minimal research exists on the public's reactions to terrorism threats and related preparedness strategies.

Triangulation of self-report and investigator-rated coping indices as predictors of psychological stress: a longitudinal investigation among public utility workers.

The aims of the present study were to: (a) determine if self-reported coping is consistent with conceptually-equivalent investigator-rated coping indices; (b) establish which types of coping are associated with psychological stress; and (c) establish whether using investigator-rated in addition to self-report coping indices to predict stress outcomes is beneficial in a real life context of worker's stressors. To fulfil these aims, a longitudinal investigation was conducted among 40 Canadian workers from the public utility sector. Results from semi-structured interviews about their worst current stressors revealed main effects for some coping types as assessed with investigator-rated indices, whereas no main effects were observed with self-report coping indices.