Melissa A. Polusny, PHD; University of Minnesota; PRMRP Investigator-Initiated Research Award:

My study focuses on post traumatic stress disorder and other mental health concerns in returning National Guard soldiers. National Guard soldiers have increasingly been utilized in the current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Almost half of soldiers deployed OEF/OIF are from National Guard reserve components and yet that population remains understudied and that's unfortunate because some data that suggests that National Guard reserve components maybe at heightened risk for PTSD and so we're specifically interested in risk factors and protective factors that contribute to the development of post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological health concerns after combat exposure. In this study, we followed up a group of 522 National Guard soldiers who we surveyed before they deployed to Iraq. One month before soldiers deployed to Iraq we administered self-report measures that assessed risk and protective factors for psychological health problems and also baseline mental health functioning. Then 3 months after soldiers returned from their deployment we used standard mail survey methodology to collect follow-up data from this group. We found that of the National Guard soldiers that we surveyed, the rates of PTSD prior to deployment were about 3.6 percent following deployment, 3 months following deployment, the rate of PTSD using strict criteria for making that probable diagnosis was 16.2 percent. And in this study we were interested in trying to identify risk and protective factors that were associated with PTSD symptoms following deployment. When we controlled for baseline demographic characteristics, then we found that a number of pre-deployment factors predicted PTSD symptoms following their deployment. So prior life stressors, the extent of prior life stressors that soldiers experienced before they deployed; their degree of military preparedness, how prepared they felt for deployment, and their concerns about life and family disruptions that might occur during deployment-those factors all predicted PTSD symptoms following deployment. And as we expected, a number of deployment related factors were associated with PTSD symptoms: combat exposure; exposure to the aftermath of battle, and also perceived life threat were associated with PTSD symptoms. When we looked at the final model, all of the independent variables together in one model, these variables accounted for 46 percent of the variance in PTSD symptoms. We have two more waves of post-deployment data that we're collecting. So, we'll be able to follow this particular cohort up over four waves of data. But it's a small sample, 500, allows us to answer some important questions. But what we would like is take the results of this study and focus on following up a larger sample of National Guard soldiers who are now facing multiple deployments and try to understand the impact of second and third deployments on these risk and protective factors. Our team is very grateful to the support we've had from the CDMRP, their willingness to take a risk and to fund an innovative study and go in new directions. The focus here on military health is one that I think is an important part of CDMRP's mission.