Military personnel's stress reactivity during pre-deployment in a war zone

Many studies have been conducted on the numerous negative post-deployment outcomes for military personnel. However, data on service members' pre-deployment stress reactivity are absent. This is a serious gap in existing research, as stress has an important regulatory role. This study aimed to determine possible manifestations of military personnel's stress reactivity during pre-deployment in a war zone in eastern Ukraine. The study involved 270 Ukrainian service members (all male, aged 18 to 58 years). Sample 1 (n = 108) were preparing to be deployed for the first time, sample 2 (n = 84) were preparing to be deployed and had previous experience of deployment, and sample 3 (n = 108) were not preparing to deploy and had no previous deployment experience. We used the Ukrainian adaptation of the Giessen Subjective Complaints List (GBB-24), the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), the Short Screening Scale for DSM-IV posttraumatic stress disorder and the Combat Exposure Scale (CES). We found that indicators for physical complaints, psychological problems and psychopathological and posttraumatic symptoms among service members from samples 1 and 2 were significantly higher than those of sample 3 in 15 of 18 cases (p < 0.001-0.05). The indicators obtained for sample 2 were higher than those of sample 1 in six of nine cases (p < 0.001-0.05). Both our study hypotheses were confirmed. The present findings can be used to develop efficient psychological interventions for military personnel during pre-deployment in a war zone.