Mental Health in Australian Defence Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Operators in Afghanistan

Abstract

Increasing use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in conflicts has led to concerns about the mental health of operators. To determine if there were differences in mental health screening test results, Australian UAV operators were compared to all other Australian personnel deployed on operations in the Middle East during OPERATION SLIPPER (2001–2014), we compared the results of Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian (PCL-C) tests for UAV operators and all other personnel on return to Australia and six months later. Rates of high risk psychological distress and moderate or higher risk PTSD symptoms were slightly lower in UAV operators compared to other Australian OPERATION SLIPPER personnel at both return to Australia and six months later. After the deployment, there were minor decreases in psychological distress for both groups, with both groups also experiencing a minor increase in PTSD symptoms. Where results achieved significance, all effect sizes were found to be small. This is the first report of mental health screening data obtained from Australian UAV operators who served in Afghanistan. UAV operators did not appear to be at increased risk of psychological distress or posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms compared to all other deployed military personnel, in fact, they were at slightly lower risk.

Keywords:

• Unmanned aerial vehicle operator
• posttraumatic stress disorder
• psychological distress

Acknowledgments

Dr Wallace is employed by Bupa Health Services and is contracted by the Commonwealth of Australia to provide health services to the Australian Defence Force. All other authors are either members or employees of the Australian Defence Force. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.