An exploratory domain analysis of deployment risks and protective features and their association to mental health, cognitive functioning and job performance in military personnel.

Abstract

Background: Meta-analyses of military deployment involve the exploration of focused associations between predictors and peri and post-deployment outcomes.

Objective: We aimed to provide a large-scale and high-level perspective of deployment-related predictors across eight peri and post-deployment outcomes.

Design: Articles reporting effect sizes for associations between deployment-related features and indices of peri and post-deployment outcomes were selected. Three-hundred and fourteen studies (N = 2,045,067) and 1,893 relevant effects were retained. Deployment features were categorized into themes, mapped across outcomes, and integrated into a big-data visualization.

Methods: Studies of military personnel with deployment experience were included. Extracted studies investigated eight possible outcomes reflecting functioning (e.g., post-traumatic stress, burnout). To allow comparability, effects were transformed into a Fisher's Z. Moderation analyses investigating methodological features were performed.

Results: The strongest correlates across outcomes were emotional (e.g., guilt/shame: Z = 0.59 to 1.21) and cognitive processes (e.g., negative appraisals: Z = -0.54 to 0.26), adequate sleep on deployment (Z = -0.28 to - 0.61), motivation (Z = -0.33 to - 0.71), and use of various coping strategies/recovery strategies (Z = -0.25 to - 0.59).

Conclusions: Findings pointed to interventions that target coping and recovery strategies, and the monitoring of emotional states and cognitive processes post-deployment that may indicate early risk.