Pre- and Peri-Pandemic Deployment Trajectories of Mental Health:Any Different?

Abstract

Abstract Background With the purpose of preventing the troops from becoming a contagion vector of SARS-Cov-2, pre-deployment and post-deployment quarantine have been mandatory for the military worldwide. This study investigates if deployment-related quarantining has impacted on the mental health trajectory across the deployment cycle. Pandemic-specific studies of mental health are criticized for lacking a pre-pandemic reference point. In this study, we address this shortcoming. Method We pooled pre-pandemic data and peri-pandemic data: The pre-pandemic sample, 156 soldiers, and a sub-sample of the pandemic sample, 130 soldiers, completed the BSI/Mini-SCL three times, two weeks before deployment, two weeks after deployment and at a follow-up, three to six months after deployment. This pandemic sub-sample had undergone pre-deployment and post-deployment quarantining. Soldiers in this subsample completed the Mini-SCL five times. Results Using a two-way repeated measures ANOVA, we found significant main effects for the within-subjects factor, showing a decrease in mental health symptoms over time, a significant main effect for the between subject factor, with the pandemic sample displaying a higher General Severity Index (GSI) of the Mini-SCL/BSI than the pre-pandemic sample, and a significant interaction between both factors indicating different mental health trajectories across the deployment cycle. Conclusions Though the impact of the pandemic and specific containment measures are difficult to disentangle, this study suggests an impact of the pandemic rather than a health-adverse impact of the specific deployment-related quarantining. It illustrates how important it is for future studies to collect representative samples, select the critical timing of measurement and choosing the same economic measures.