Acute stress response and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in CAPF soldiers after a heat stroke incident
ZHOU Yu1, YAN Min2, WANG Dong3
1. Teaching and Research Office of Military Psychology, Basic Department, Noncommissioned Officer Academy of PAP, Hangzhou 311400, China; 2. Neuromanagement Laboratory, School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China; 3. The First Department of Surgery,Zhejiang Provincial Corps Hospital of Chinese People's Armed Police Force, Hangzhou 310051, China
Abstract:Objective To investigate the characteristics of acute stress responses and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in soldiers of the Chinese People's Armed Police Force (CAPF) after a severe heat stroke incident. Methods The acute stress response scale (ASRS) and the PTSD checklist-civilian version (PCL-C) were used to score CAPF soldiers of the units involved in the incident one day and thirty days after the incident. A single sample control study was used to investigate the changes of acute stress responses of these CAPF soldiers from the 1st day to the 30th day after the incident. A controlled study was used to find out about the difference in acute stress responses and symptoms of PTSD between soldiers who had experienced the incident (as the incident group) and those who had not (as the control group) at the 30th day after the incident. Results The mean score of ASRS of soldiers who had experienced the incident was significantly lower at the 30th day after the incident than at the 1st day after the incident (t=3.191, P=0.003). After controlling for the factor of length of military service, the mean score of the behavioral dimension of ASRS of the incident group was marginally significantly higher than that of the control group[F (1,60)=3.482, P=0.067, η2=0.055]. According to more in-depth analysis of the behavior dimension of ASRS, there was significant difference between the two groups in the factor of attention to appearance [F (1,60)=5.801, P=0.019, η2=0.088] and diet [F (1,60)=3.859, P=0.05, η2=0.060]. There was no significant difference in PCL-C scale scores between the two groups. Conclusions Although the results of this study indicate that this heat stroke incident did not cause acute stress disorder or PTSD in those involved in the incident, the changes in the behavioral dimension of acute stress responses deserve attention. The cognitive behavioral therapy is recommended intervention.
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