Construct validity and reliability of the Tachikawa Resilience Scale in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force personnel

Abstract

Purpose

The importance of resilience as a mental health outcome has been reported in recent occupational health studies, although resilience is yet to be assessed in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) population. Our objective was to test whether the Tachikawa Resilience Scale (TRS), developed to measure the resilience of Japanese individuals, is useful for evaluating the resilience of the JGSDF.

Patients and methods

We performed a cross-sectional study of 353 JGSDF peacekeeping personnel engaged in the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan from November 2015 to May 2016. We evaluated resilience using two psychological measures: the TRS and the Resilience Competence Scale – Japanese Short Version (RCS-JS). To verify the construct validity of the TRS, we performed exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. We subsequently conducted hierarchical multivariate regression analysis to evaluate the relationship of the TRS and the RCS-JS with psychological distress measured by the Japanese version of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale.

Results

Of those recruited, 281 (79.6%) agreed to participate. The exploratory factor analysis revealed a one-factor model of the TRS. The confirmatory factor analysis model showed good fit (ratio of χ² to the degrees of freedom =1.409, P=0.105, comparative fit index =0.994, root mean square error of approximation =0.038). Both the TRS and the RCS-JS showed a significant inverse correlation with the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, and the regression coefficient of the TRS was equivalent to that of the RCS-JS.

Conclusion

We confirmed the construct validity and reliability of the TRS when applied to the JGSDF, and demonstrated the usefulness of the TRS in this population.

Keywords:

• psychological resilience
• psychological measure
• United Nations peacekeeping operations
• mental health
• occupational health

Acknowledgments

We thank all the participants and medical staff of the JGSDF, who supported our research. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the position or policy of the National Defense Medical College, Japan Ministry of Defense, or the JGSDF. This work was partly supported by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant Number 26461779 and 17K09181. We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.jp) for English language editing.

Author contributions

All authors conceived the study concept and design. TS, MN, JS, and MT compiled and synthesized the data. TS, MN, JS, and HT carried out statistical analyses. KS and AY supervised the study project. All authors participated in interpretation of the results and writing the report, approved the final version, and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.