Impairment among Soldiers Who were Exposed to Combat During Military Operation
Abstract
Leah Shelef, Eyal Fruchter, Shirley Gordon, Dror Garbi, Yavnai Nirit, Yuval Haber, Karen Ginat, Idit Oz and Golan Shahar
Background and objectives: Soldiers exposed to war are at risk for developing psychological impairment.
Aim: Compare the clinical impairment experienced in three different soldiers who were exposed to combat during military operation. Methods/Design: Participants included 49 (40.2%) infantry soldiers, 24 (19.7%) pilots and flight engineers, and 49 (40.2%) soldiers engaged in electronic warfare. Our focus was on five domains of soldiers’ experience: stress symptoms, coping strategies, self-image, interpersonal functioning, and posttraumatic growth. Participants completed measures of all those measures.
Results: The infantry group had comparatively higher levels of PTSD symptoms (p = .001), somatization (p < .001), state anxiety (p = .000), self-efficacy (p = .017), challenge-based coping (p = .001) and social support (p = .011). However, the infantry group also exhibited comparatively higher posttraumatic growth -PTG (p < 0.001).
Conclusions: The implications of the data indicate that infantry soldiers might be at particular risk for psychological impairment following combat. At the same time, infantry soldiers exhibited higher levels of posttraumatic growth as compared to the other two groups.