Military 'Special Forces' represent a high-reliability occupation, where stress levels are often intense and failure can be costly. Selection for such jobs should pay careful attention to psychological factors associated with resiliency under stress. In the present study, US Army Special Forces candidates (N ¼ 1138) were assessed for psychological hardiness using a short form of the Dispositional Resilience Scale, and these scores were then applied to predict successful completion of the course. Independent sample t-tests and logistic regression analyses confirmed that Special Forces course graduates are significantly higher in psychological hardiness, as compared to non-graduates. Psychological hardiness appears to be an important individual characteristic associated with stress tolerance and successful performance in highly demanding occupations.

Patients with poor adherence to the immunosuppressive medication in the first year after kidney transplantation showed increased likelihood of graft loss and death over 12 years compared with the adherent patients.

Factors modifying stress from adverse effects of immunosuppressive medication in kidney transplant recipients Rosenberger, J.; Geckova, A.M.; van Dijk, J.P.; Roland, R.; Groothoff, J.W.

Summary Noncompliance with therapy is one possible explanation for the observation that long‐term graft survival is not sufficiently improved by the development in immunosuppression. The aim of the study was to explore the prevalence, characteristics and risk factors of noncompliance with immunosuppression. A total of 161 adult kidney transplant recipients were interviewed about their self‐rated health, social support, education, stress from adverse effects and compliance with the immunosuppression. The prevalence of subclinical noncompliance was 54%. Noncompliant patients declared significantly worse self‐rated health, less satisfaction with social support and higher stress from adverse effects. Male gender (OR 7.5, CI 2.4–23.39), high stress from adverse effects (OR 12.27, CI 2.44–61.88), fair self‐rated health (OR 4.45, CI 1.04–19.55) and fair satisfaction with social support (OR 4.55, CI 1.08–19.24) were predictors of noncompliance. Standardized detection methods should be developed with the aim of identifying patients who are at risk of noncompliance in order to prevent graft loss.