Page 40 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Summer 2014

Table 2 Proportion of USAF PJs Reporting Each Type of Event on the Aftermath of Battle Scale of the Deployment Risk and
Resilience Inventory, With Mean Intensity Level

%
Event Endorsed M a SD
Observing homes or villages that had been destroyed 61.9 1.53 0.84
Seeing refugees who had lost their homes and belongings as a result of battle 20.2 1.32 1.05
Seeing people begging for food 35.7 1.82 1.32
Taking prisoners of war 29.6 1.44 0.77
Interacting with enemy soldiers who were taken as prisoners of war 42.6 1.71 0.96
Being exposed to the sight, sound, or smell of animals that had been wounded or killed 32.3 1.44 0.74
from war-related causes
Taking care of injured or dying people 77.6 3.24 1.61
Being involved in removing dead bodies after battle 52.6 2.10 1.30
Being exposed to the sight, sound, or smell of dying men and women 60.9 2.32 1.37
Seeing enemy soldiers after they had been severely wounded or disfigured in combat 54.3 2.16 1.32
Seeing the bodies of dead enemy soldiers 47.4 1.91 1.17
Seeing civilians after they had been severely wounded or disfigured 60.3 2.29 1.35
Seeing the bodies of dead civilians 41.4 1.79 1.15
Seeing Americans or allies after they had been severely wounded or disfigured in combat 65.5 2.64 1.48
Seeing the bodies of dead Americans or allies 57.4 2.07 1.16
Note: a. Items used the following response scale: 1 = never, 2 = a few times over the entire deployment, 3 = a few times each month, 4 = a few

times each week, 5 = daily or almost daily.
severity were strongly correlated with each other and ABS was significantly associated with increased PTSD
were well below clinical levels. Participants who had severity (B = .201, SE = .071, p = .005), accounting for
deployed more often tended to report more severe de- 14.9% of the variance in PTSD symptoms.
pression symptoms and greater perceived unit support.
More intense combat exposure was significantly associ- In terms of depression severity, results indicated that
ated with more severe depression and PTSD symptoms, both CES (B = .055, SE = .027, p = .043) and ABS (B =
while more intense aftermath exposure was significantly .041, SE = .018, p = .020) scores were independently
associated with more severe PTSD symptoms only. Unit associated with significantly more severe depression
support was negatively correlated with both depression symptoms, but when considered simultaneously, neither
and PTSD. CES (B = .018, SE = .030, p = .549) nor ABS (B = .039,
SE = .044, p = .383) scores were significantly associ-
The Relationship of Combat and Aftermath ated with depression severity. Collectively, CES and ABS
Experiences With PTSD and Depression Symptoms scores accounted for only 5.2% of total variance in de-
To determine the association of combat and aftermath pression symptoms.
experiences with severity of PTSD and depression symp-
toms, we constructed separate generalized linear regres- The Relationship of Unit Support With PTSD and
sion with robust maximum likelihood estimation for Depression Symptoms
PTSD Checklist (PCL)-M and Patient Health Question- Generalized linear regression was also used to determine
naire (PHQ)-9 scores. CES scores and ABS scores were the association of unit support with severity of PTSD and
first entered as separate predictor variables, then entered depression symptoms. In terms of PTSD severity, results
into the regression equation simultaneously to evalu- indicated that unit support (B = –.206, SE = .104, β =
ate each variable’s relationship with the outcome while –.276, p = .048) scores were associated with significantly
controlling for the other (because combat exposure and less severe PTSD symptoms, accounting for 7.6% of the
aftermath exposure are not mutually exclusive). In terms variance in PTSD symptoms. In terms of depression se-
of PTSD severity, results indicated that both CES (B = verity, resulted indicated that unit support (B = –.063,
.187, standard error [SE] = .068, p = .006) and ABS (B = SE = .032, β = –.229, p = .051) scores were associated
.202, SE = .049, p < .001) scores were independently as- with significantly less severe depression symptoms. Unit
sociated with significantly more severe PTSD symptoms. support accounted for only 5.3% of total variance in de-
When CES and ABS were entered simultaneously, only pression symptoms.

30 Journal of Special Operations Medicine Volume 14, Edition 2/Summer 2014