Analysis of, Continuation of, and Report on Data Gathered at Dover AFB Mortuaryduring Operation Desert Storm: ARO Short Term Analysis Service Program (STAS). Subtitle: Anticipated and Actual Stress of Deployment to the Dover AFB Mortuary during Operation

摘要

Persons assigned to the Dover AFB Mortuary in anticipation of Operation DesertStorm (N= 638) were tested before and after human remains from the war were processed there. Analyses focussed on the relationship between various worker characteristics and anticipated (and, to some degree, actual post-war) stress, as measured mainly by the Impact of Event (IOE) and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) scales. Worker characteristics included prior experience, volunteer status, sex, fear of mutilation, tendency to give socially desirable responses, and duty to which workers were assigned at the mortuary. Hundreds of analyses were performed. Results included the following. The IOE proved to have high concurrent and discriminant validity. Alcohol consumption and stress-reducing strategies were minimally predictive of level of stress. workers, reports of spouses' stress were lower if Desert Storm workers, RA I had had prior experience. Sex, as a main effect or in interaction with other predictors, had very little influence on results. Prior experience generally was associated with lower stress. Volunteering was associated with fewer general symptoms of disturbance, while anticipation of having to work with bodies led to more symptoms. Multiple regression analyses showed that stress reactions were best predicted by other measures of personality or emotional state, and not by demographic or prior experience characteristics. Prewar-postwar change in stress levels were not generally predictable by main effects, though some interactions were significant. It was concluded that further analysis of this rich and complex data set could yield insights of considerable practical and theoretical significance.