Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness Program Evaluation. Report 4. Evaluation of Resilience Training and Mental and Behavioral Health Outcomes.

摘要

The purpose of this evaluation is to examine the effectiveness of Master Resilience Training, which is a pillar of the Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness (CSF2) program. The report evaluates the relationship between resilience training and diagnoses for mental health or substance abuse problems and whether this relationship was mediated by Soldiers self-reported resilience/ psychological health (R/PH). In other words, we tested whether Soldiers with MRT trainers in their units experienced increases in self- reported R/PH, and whether increases in self-reported R/PH were associated with reduced odds of Soldiers receiving diagnoses for mental health or substance abuse problems. The results revealed that exposure to resilience training increased various aspects of Soldier R/PH, which, in turn, appeared to be associated with a reduced likelihood of receiving a diagnosis for a mental health problem (i.e., anxiety, depression, or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)). Thus, this finding suggested that the reduced odds of receiving a diagnosis for a mental health problem was partly due to increases in indicators of R/PH that were likely associated with exposure to resilience training. Moreover, the findings provided evidence that Soldiers exposed to the training were diagnosed with substance abuse problems at a significantly lower rate than Soldiers who were not exposed to the training.