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Background <p>To prevent military personnel from becoming vectors of SARS-CoV-2 transmission during the pandemic, soldiers throughout the world were required to quarantine before and after deployment. This study examined whether deployment-related quarantining affected trajectories of psychological distress for German military personnel throughout the deployment cycle. Pandemic-specific mental health studies were criticised for lacking a pre-pandemic reference point. This study aims to address this gap, thus providing stronger evidence as to whether deployment-related quarantining affected psychological distress.</p> Method <p>Pre-pandemic data were pooled with peri-pandemic data. The pre-pandemic sample consisted of 96 soldiers, and the sample from the pandemic group included 95 soldiers. Both groups completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI)/Mini-Symptom Checklist (Mini-SCL) at three time points: two weeks before deployment, two weeks after deployment, and at a follow-up, three to six months post-deployment. The pandemic sample participated in both pre-deployment and post-deployment quarantines, completing the Mini-SCL five times. A two-way repeated-measures ANOVA assessed differences across deployment phases and time periods.</p> Results <p>The repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant main effects for the within-subjects factor "deployment phases" and the between-subjects factor "pre- versus peri-pandemic period," with a significant interaction between both factors. Follow-up analyses showed 1) differing pre- and peri-pandemic trajectories of psychological distress across the deployment cycle and 2) higher levels of psychological distress during the peri-pandemic period, except for the two-week post-deployment measurement, which coincided with the end of post-deployment quarantine.</p> Conclusions <p>While it is difficult to disentangle the specific impact of the pandemic versus deployment-related quarantine measures, the findings suggest that the pandemic itself had a more substantial impact on psychological distress than the quarantine measures. This study underscores the importance of selecting critical measurement time points, and utilising shorter, streamlined measures in future research.</p>

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Psychological distress across the deployment cycle: comparing pre- and peri-pandemic trajectories

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年8月22日

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  • Antje H. Bühler,
  • Gerd-Dieter Willmund

摘要

Background

To prevent military personnel from becoming vectors of SARS-CoV-2 transmission during the pandemic, soldiers throughout the world were required to quarantine before and after deployment. This study examined whether deployment-related quarantining affected trajectories of psychological distress for German military personnel throughout the deployment cycle. Pandemic-specific mental health studies were criticised for lacking a pre-pandemic reference point. This study aims to address this gap, thus providing stronger evidence as to whether deployment-related quarantining affected psychological distress.

Method

Pre-pandemic data were pooled with peri-pandemic data. The pre-pandemic sample consisted of 96 soldiers, and the sample from the pandemic group included 95 soldiers. Both groups completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI)/Mini-Symptom Checklist (Mini-SCL) at three time points: two weeks before deployment, two weeks after deployment, and at a follow-up, three to six months post-deployment. The pandemic sample participated in both pre-deployment and post-deployment quarantines, completing the Mini-SCL five times. A two-way repeated-measures ANOVA assessed differences across deployment phases and time periods.

Results

The repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant main effects for the within-subjects factor "deployment phases" and the between-subjects factor "pre- versus peri-pandemic period," with a significant interaction between both factors. Follow-up analyses showed 1) differing pre- and peri-pandemic trajectories of psychological distress across the deployment cycle and 2) higher levels of psychological distress during the peri-pandemic period, except for the two-week post-deployment measurement, which coincided with the end of post-deployment quarantine.

Conclusions

While it is difficult to disentangle the specific impact of the pandemic versus deployment-related quarantine measures, the findings suggest that the pandemic itself had a more substantial impact on psychological distress than the quarantine measures. This study underscores the importance of selecting critical measurement time points, and utilising shorter, streamlined measures in future research.