The main argument in support of post-deployment screening of military personnel for mental ill health, is that it could identify mental health problems sooner or whilst these are less severe.
Selection should also not be based entirely on skills; fitting into a team and being able to carry out the work required in the field is more desirable (29), reinforcing the need for pre-deployment screening of both physical and psychological health (30).
This study aimed to examine currently serving United Kingdom (UK) military Medical and Welfare Officers views on the potential introduction of post-deployment screening for mental ill health.
For analysis purposes, the scale score was divided into tertiles, determined with respect to a larger reference population of Canadian Armed Forces personnel undergoing post-deployment screening after a number of different military operations since 2009.
The questions aimed to gain insights into the views MOs and WOs hold about screening, and to explore perceived positives and negatives of introducing post-deployment screening, along with difficulties and workload pressures MOs and WOs think may arise due to the implementation of screening.
This study found that current PCS were seen during post-deployment screening in 27.0% and 21.3% of those with more and less severe mTBI, respectively.
Four master themes emerged, each reflecting different beliefs about the potential introduction of a post-deployment screening tool: positive views of screening; reliability of responses; impact on workload; and suggestions for implementation.
But that may soon change, with the deployment in screens of structures called quantum dots.A quantum dot is a semiconductor crystal a few nanometres (billionths of a metre) across about 50 atoms wide, in other words.
Such systems have been proposed previously as a means of improving the safety of prescribing and dispensing of mefloquine, which shares with pre-deployment screening the requirement to accurately identify a history of recent mental health diagnosis [ 20].
The development of electronic decision-support systems which automatically screen electronic health records to identify high-risk service members may prove a valuable component of improved pre-deployment screening processes.
IAVA has strongly endorsed the mandatory pre- and post- deployment mental health screening of our service members by mental health professionals.
