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. 2019 Jan 14;10(1):1556552.
doi: 10.1080/20008198.2018.1556552. eCollection 2019.

Do serving and ex-serving personnel of the UK armed forces seek help for perceived stress, emotional or mental health problems?

Sharon A M Stevelink  1 , Norman Jones  2 , Margaret Jones  1 , Daniel Dyball  1 , Charandeep K Khera  1 , David Pernet  1 , Shirlee MacCrimmon  1 , Dominic Murphy  1   3 , Lisa Hull  1 , Neil Greenberg  1 , Deirdre MacManus  1   4 , Laura Goodwin  5 , Marie-Louise Sharp  1 , Simon Wessely  1 , Roberto J Rona  1 , Nicola T Fear  1   2
Affiliations

Do serving and ex-serving personnel of the UK armed forces seek help for perceived stress, emotional or mental health problems?

Sharon A M Stevelink et al. Eur J Psychotraumatol. .

Abstract
in English, Spanish, Chinese

Background: UK armed forces personnel are at risk of occupational psychological injury; they are often reluctant to seek help for such problems. Objective: We aimed to examine and describe sources of support, prevalence and associates of help-seeking among UK serving and ex-serving personnel. Method: A total of 1450 participants who self-reported a stress, emotional or mental health problem in the past 3 years were sampled from a health and wellbeing study and subsequently completed a telephone interview comprising measures of mental disorder symptoms, alcohol misuse and help-seeking behaviour. Results: Seven per cent of participants had not sought any help, 55% had accessed medical sources of support (general practitioner or mental health specialist), 46% had received formal non-medical (welfare) support and 86% had used informal support. Gender, age, perceived health, functional impairment, social support, deployment, alcohol and comorbidity impacted upon the choice of help source. Conclusions: This study found that the majority of those with perceived mental health problems sought some form of help, with over half using formal medical sources of support.

Antecedentes: El personal de las Fuerzas Armadas del Reino Unido está en riesgo de sufrir alteraciones psicológicas ocupacionales; a menudo son reacios a buscar ayuda para tales problemas. Objetivo: El objetivo fue examinar y describir las fuentes de apoyo, la prevalencia y los asociados de búsqueda de ayuda entre el personal de servicio y ex personal de servicio del Reino Unido. Método: En un estudio de salud y bienestar se tomaron muestras de 1.450 participantes que informaron sobre un problema de estrés, de salud mental o emocional en los últimos tres años y posteriormente completaron una entrevista telefónica que incluía medidas de síntomas de trastornos mentales, abuso de alcohol y conductas de búsqueda de ayuda. Resultados: El 7% de los participantes no había buscado ninguna ayuda. El 55% accedió a fuentes médicas de apoyo (médico general o especialista en salud mental), el 46% recibió apoyo formal no médico (servicio social) y el 86% utilizó apoyo informal. El sexo, la edad, la salud percibida, el deterioro funcional, el apoyo social, el despliegue, el alcohol y la comorbilidad se ven afectados por la elección de la fuente de ayuda. Conclusiones: Este estudio encontró que la mayoría de las personas con problemas de salud mental percibidos buscaron algún tipo de ayuda, y más de la mitad usaron fuentes médicas formales de apoyo.

背景：英国武装部队人员面临职业心理伤害的风险;他们通常不愿意为这些问题寻求帮助。 目标：我们的目的是考查和描述英国在职和退役人员的支持资源、求助行为的普遍性和有关因素。 方法：从一项身心健康研究中抽样1450名在过去三年中自我报告压力、情绪或心理健康问题的参与者，随后进行电话访谈测量其精神障碍症状、酒精滥用和求助行为。 结果：7％的参与者没有寻求任何帮助， 55％获得医疗支持（全科医生或心理健康专家），46％获得正式的非医疗（福利）支持，86％使用非正式支持。性别、年龄、感知健康、功能障碍、社会支持、就职、酒精和合并症对选择帮助来源有影响。 结论：本研究发现，大多数有心理健康问题的人寻求某种形式的帮助，超过一半的人使用正式的医疗支持资源。.

Keywords: Alcohol misuse; depression; help-seeking; military personnel; post-traumatic stress disorder; quantitative methods; veteran; • In contrast to previous studies of help-seeking in serving and ex-serving personnel, and the public perception, this study found that the majority of those with perceived mental health problems sought some form of help.• Over half used formal medical sources of support.• Younger males who reported lower levels of social support were less likely to seek support..

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Conflict of interest statement

SAMS, LH, MJ, DD, CKK, DP, SM, RJR and NTF had a salary (partially) paid for from a UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) grant. This paper represents independent research part funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London. NJ is a serving member of the British Army seconded to King’s College London. DM is employed by Combat Stress, a national charity in the UK that provides clinical mental health services to veterans. DMM is the lead consultant for an NHS Veteran Mental Health Service. NG is the Royal College of Psychiatrists Lead for Military and Veterans Health and trustee with two military charities; however, he was not directed by these organizations in any way in relation to his contribution to this paper. NG and SW are affiliated to the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit (HPRU) in Emergency Preparedness and Response at King’s College London in partnership with Public Health England, in collaboration with the University of East Anglia and Newcastle University. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, the Department of Health and Social Care, Public Health England or the UK MOD. Further, SW is a trustee of the charity Combat Stress. NTF is trustee of a veteran’s charity and an advisor to the Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow diagram for the interview study. *These 2017 eligible participants were identified as eligible and identified by August 2016. However, the phase 3 health and wellbeing cohort study, from which these participants were derived, continued data collection until the first week of January 2017. An additional 451 eligible participants were identified after August 2016, but were not selected to take part in the interview study given constraints on the time available for finishing the study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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