Validation of a brief measure of combat exposure among Canadian Armed Forces personnel

Exposure to military combat is associated with mental health problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. To understand the effects of combat on adverse health outcomes, the sound measurement of combat experiences is required; however, many scales used in past research are lengthy. A brief measure of combat exposure benefits militaries by reducing the burden on respondents as well as administration time in post-deployment settings and large population-based health surveys.

The current study sought to describe the psychometric properties of a brief measure of combat exposure among Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel. Data from post-deployment screening were used to compare the psychometric properties of an 8-item scale with the full scale that it was derived from.

The 8-item measure did not fit a one-factor solution well and did not offer a statistically significant improvement in model fit over the full 30-item measure. However, its association with increased odds of a number of health outcomes indicates that it could be useful as a brief measure of combat exposure in settings where using the full scale is not feasible.

Brief measures of combat exposure are valuable for assessing events experienced during deployment among military personnel. Although the 8-item Combat Exposure Scale assessed in the current study represents a potentially useful measure for CAF personnel, further research is necessary to improve its fit.