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Abstract
Objectives: Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) is a peer-led, occupational mental health support process that aims to identify and assist U.K. military personnel with persistent mental ill health related to potentially traumatic events (PTEs). This study compared help seeking, mental disorder symptoms, and alcohol use between TRiM recipients and personnel experiencing similar combat events who did not receive TRiM; an unexposed group provided context. Methods: Records of TRiM activity during a U.K. military deployment in Afghanistan were linked to contemporaneous survey data assessing mental health and combat experiences. The resulting deployment data set was amalgamated with mental health, alcohol use, and help-seeking data collected within 12 weeks of homecoming and again one to two years later. Mental health and help-seeking outcomes were compared between a nonexposed, non-TRiM sample (n = 161), an exposed, non-TRiM sample (n = 149), and an exposed, TRiM-recipient sample (n = 328) using logistic regression analyses. Results: At follow-up, TRiM recipients were significantly more likely to seek help from mental health services than exposed, non-TRiM personnel. At baseline, TRiM recipients had significantly greater adjusted odds of reporting possible posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms than exposed non-TRiM personnel; the difference was not significant at follow-up. TRiM recipients were significantly more likely to report persistent mental disorder and alcohol misuse caseness over the follow-up period. Conclusions: TRiM recipients were significantly more likely to seek help from mental health services than a similar PTE-exposed group that did not receive TRiM; however, TRiM recipients experienced more persistent mental ill-health symptoms and hazardous alcohol use over the period of follow-up despite seeking help.
Funding
The U.K. Ministry of Defence provided no direct funds other than researcher salaries.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Norman Jones
Norman Jones, PhD, and Howard Burdett, PhD, are affiliated with King’s College London, King’s Centre for Military Health Research, Academic Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Weston Education Centre, in London. Kevin Green, MSc, and Neil Greenberg, MD, are affiliated with King’s College London, King’s Centre for Military Health Research, Academic Department of Military Mental Health, Academic Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Weston Education Centre, in London.
Howard Burdett
Norman Jones, PhD, and Howard Burdett, PhD, are affiliated with King’s College London, King’s Centre for Military Health Research, Academic Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Weston Education Centre, in London. Kevin Green, MSc, and Neil Greenberg, MD, are affiliated with King’s College London, King’s Centre for Military Health Research, Academic Department of Military Mental Health, Academic Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Weston Education Centre, in London.
Kevin Green
Norman Jones, PhD, and Howard Burdett, PhD, are affiliated with King’s College London, King’s Centre for Military Health Research, Academic Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Weston Education Centre, in London. Kevin Green, MSc, and Neil Greenberg, MD, are affiliated with King’s College London, King’s Centre for Military Health Research, Academic Department of Military Mental Health, Academic Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Weston Education Centre, in London.
Neil Greenberg
Norman Jones, PhD, and Howard Burdett, PhD, are affiliated with King’s College London, King’s Centre for Military Health Research, Academic Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Weston Education Centre, in London. Kevin Green, MSc, and Neil Greenberg, MD, are affiliated with King’s College London, King’s Centre for Military Health Research, Academic Department of Military Mental Health, Academic Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Weston Education Centre, in London.