Adherence and Psychosocial Well-Being During Pandemic-Associated Pre-deployment Quarantine

Background: With the purpose of preventing SARS-Cov-2 traveling with the troops, pre-deployment and post-deployment quarantine are mandatory for the German military. This study investigates which factors could be addressed in order to facilitate adherence and mental health during isolation.Method: Six hundred three soldiers completed questionnaires at the beginning and at the end of pre-deployment quarantine: Mini-SCL (BSI), Perceived Social Support (FSozU-K22), Unit Cohesion, Military Quarantine Adherence Questionnaire (MQAQ), and quarantine-associated factors including informedness about Covid-19, perceived individual risk, benefit of quarantine, clarity of quarantine protocol, need of intimacy, social norms, stigma, practicality of the quarantine, financial disadvantages, boredom, and health promoting leadership.Results: Using stepwise regression analyses, up to 57% of the quarantine adherence was explained by social norms, boredom, perceived benefit/effectiveness of the quarantine, clear communication of the quarantine protocol and perceived risk of an infection, with social norms explaining 43%. In respect to mental health (Mini-SCL) at the beginning of quarantine, only 15% is explained by being in a partnership, (un)fulfilled need for bonding/intimacy, perceived unit cohesion, and perceived social support. Up to 20 % of the variance in mental health at the end of quarantine is explained by accumulated days of isolation before pre-deployment quarantine, age, clear communication of the quarantine protocol, perceived social support, fulfilled need for bonding/intimacy and perceived stigma. Mental health and quarantine adherence did correlate significantly, but to a slight extent. No differences between the beginning and the end of pre-deployment quarantine were found for the overall group in respect to mental health, quarantine adherence, perceived social support and perceived unit cohesion, while their trajectories differed for different subgroups including age, gender, rank, and accumulated days of quarantine: With increasing accumulated days of isolation prior to pre-deployment quarantine, mental health declined over the course of quarantine, though to a small degree.Conclusion: Findings suggest that addressing the norms of fellow soldiers and dependents alike could contribute to quarantine adherence in pre-deployment quarantine. Ongoing research should examine long-term effects on mental health, including these of accumulated days of quarantine, also taking into account post-deployment quarantine.

Using Modern Education Technologies in the Development of Unit Cohesion Skills in Novice Officers

В современных условиях, когда Россия столкнулась с комплексом вызовов, возрастает необходимость в усилении ее обороноспособности, построении новой армии, что требует серьезной реформы военного образования, подготовки будущих офицеров к боевому слаживанию, применения современных образовательных технологий. Цель исследования состоит в том, чтобы обосновать использование современных образовательных технологий в процессе формирования компетенции боевого слаживания у будущих офицеров. Гипотеза нашего исследования формулируется в предположении, что уровень компетенции боевого слаживания у будущих офицеров повысится, если в процессе подготовки применять компьютерные, тренинговые, диалоговые технологии, а также те, которые воссоздают условия современного общевойскового боя. На основе применения методологических подходов к исследованию (системный, компетентностный, опытно-экспериментальный), анализа работ по подготовке будущих офицеров были определены понятия «боевое слаживание», «компетенция будущего офицера боевого слаживания». На основе анализа понятий «технология», «образовательная технология», тенденций модернизации Вооруженных сил Российской Федерации обосновано использование современных образовательных технологий для эффективного формирования компетенции боевого слаживания у будущих офицеров. Применение описанных в статье технологий в процессе подготовки будущих офицеров к боевому слаживанию показало их эффективность. Это было подтверждено результатами обучающего эксперимента, который проходил в 2019/2020 учебном году в Рязанском гвардейском высшем воздушно-десантном ордена Суворова дважды Краснознаменном командном училище имени генерала армии В. Ф. Маргелова. Nowadays, when Russia is facing a whole number of challenges, it is especially important to strengthen its defence capacity, to introduce military innovations and army reforms, which requires profound military education reforms associated with the development of unit cohesion skills in novice officers on the basis of modern information technologies. The aim of the research is to substantiate the use of modern education technologies in the development of unit cohesion skills in novice officers. The hypothesis of the research consists in the supposition that the use of computer-mediated and dialogue-based training solutions enhances novice officers’ unit cohesion skills. The article uses a number of methodological approaches to investigate the issue (systemic approach, competence approach, experimental approach), it analyzes the process of novice officers’ training and defines such notions as unit cohesion and novice officers’ unit cohesion skills. The analysis of such notions as technology and education technology and the examination of modernization tendencies associated with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation enable the authors to employ modern education technologies to efficiently develop unit cohesion skills in novice officers. The article underlines the efficiency of the described technologies aimed at the development of unit cohesion skills in novice officers, which is proved by the results of an experiment conducted in the 2019/2020 academic year at the General V. F. Margelov Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne twice Red Banner Order of Suvorov Command School.

Toward a “Dashboard” Indicator of Retention in U.S. Navy Personnel

ABSTRACT Introduction Retention is a top priority for the U.S. Navy. However, our understanding of factors influencing retention of Navy personnel is limited. Current research implies that poor mental health, low appraisals of unit cohesion, low leadership satisfaction, and low social support may adversely affect retention. There is a need to understand how these and other factors influence retention in U.S. Navy personnel. We evaluated a broad range of factors influencing job satisfaction and career intentions (proxies of retention) in a large sample of Navy service members. Materials and Methods Seven hundred and ninety-eight U.S. Navy men and women participated in this study as part of the Naval Unit Behavioral Health Needs Survey (NHRC.2014.0006). Independent variables included personal and unit morale, unit cohesion, affective organizational commitment, social support, behavioral health, sleep, leadership satisfaction, and perceived stress. Dependent variables include job satisfaction and career intentions. Separate multivariate regression models examined the unique and combined associations of independent and demographic variables with each dependent variable, respectively. Results Regression models accounted for 48% of variance in job satisfaction and 55% of variance in career intentions, respectively. The most robust predictors of job satisfaction were affective organizational commitment (i.e., one’s emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in an organization), depressive symptoms, unit cohesion, and perceived stress; primary predictors of career intentions included affective organizational commitment, years of military service, marital status, and race/ethnicity. Conclusion In this study, we identified diverse predictors of job satisfaction and career intentions of Navy men and women, with overall models accounting for substantial variance in both outcomes. This study informs evidence-based policies, programs, practices, and processes designed to influence job satisfaction, career intentions, and retention in U.S. Navy service members. These study findings also inform the development of a dashboard indicator of retention of U.S. Navy men and women.

Broadening the Perspective on Military Cohesion? A Reply

In 2018, Ilmari Käihkö published a special collection in Armed Forces & Society on the debate about small unit cohesion. Later, in reaction to a response by Guy Siebold, he published a further intervention with Peter Haldén. Focusing on my 2006 article in the journal and my subsequent debate, Käihkö has claimed that the cohesion debate is too narrow. It ignores organizational factors in the armed forces and wider political factors, including nationalism and state policy. Consequently, it is incapable of analyzing non-Western state or irregular forces and is only relevant for the 20th and 21st centuries. This response shows that while Käihkö’s extension of the empirical archive to non-Western armed groups is to be welcomed, none of his theoretical claims are sustainable.

Unit cohesion during deployment and post-deployment mental health: is cohesion an individual- or unit-level buffer for combat-exposed soldiers?

Background Unit cohesion may protect service member mental health by mitigating effects of combat exposure; however, questions remain about the origins of potential stress-buffering effects. We examined buffering effects associated with two forms of unit cohesion (peer-oriented horizontal cohesion and subordinate-leader vertical cohesion) defined as either individual-level or aggregated unit-level variables. Methods Longitudinal survey data from US Army soldiers who deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 were analyzed using mixed-effects regression. Models evaluated individual- and unit-level interaction effects of combat exposure and cohesion during deployment on symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and suicidal ideation reported at 3 months post-deployment (model n's = 6684 to 6826). Given the small effective sample size (k = 89), the significance of unit-level interactions was evaluated at a 90% confidence level. Results At the individual-level, buffering effects of horizontal cohesion were found for PTSD symptoms [B = −0.11, 95% CI (−0.18 to −0.04), p < 0.01] and depressive symptoms [B = −0.06, 95% CI (−0.10 to −0.01), p < 0.05]; while a buffering effect of vertical cohesion was observed for PTSD symptoms only [B = −0.03, 95% CI (−0.06 to −0.0001), p < 0.05]. At the unit-level, buffering effects of horizontal (but not vertical) cohesion were observed for PTSD symptoms [B = −0.91, 90% CI (−1.70 to −0.11), p = 0.06], depressive symptoms [B = −0.83, 90% CI (−1.24 to −0.41), p < 0.01], and suicidal ideation [B = −0.32, 90% CI (−0.62 to −0.01), p = 0.08]. Conclusions Policies and interventions that enhance horizontal cohesion may protect combat-exposed units against post-deployment mental health problems. Efforts to support individual soldiers who report low levels of horizontal or vertical cohesion may also yield mental health benefits.

Unit Cohesion and Social Support as Protective Factors Against Suicide Risk and Depression Among National Guard Service Members

Introduction: Suicide and depression continue to be pervasive problems across military populations, including within the National Guard. Existing literature highlights the protective effects of social support and unit cohesion for both suicide risk and depression, yet to our knowledge, these associations have never been confirmed in National Guard populations. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of social support resources (i.e., general social support and unit cohesion) on depression and suicide risk among a large sample (n = 877) of National Guard service members. Methods: Multilevel modeling was used to examine the impact of social support resources on depression and suicide ideation at both the individual and unit level. Results: Results indicated that higher levels of perceived social support were associated with lower levels of depression and suicide ideation at both the individual and unit levels. Additionally, higher levels of perceived unit cohesion significantly predicted lower levels of depression and suicide ideation at the individual, but not unit level. Discussion: Limitations include self-report measurement and cross-sectional nature of the data. These findings hold implications for improvement of operational climate within military units and reduction of suicide risk and depressive symptoms among National Guard service members.