US Army Drill Sergeants: Stressors, Behavioral Health, and Mitigating Factors

Elliman, Toby D; Schwalb, Molly E; Krauss, Stephen W.; Mikoski, Peter; Adler, Amy B.

doi:10.1093/milmed/usab002

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 37 publications

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“…Prolonged exposure to work-related demands without sufficient resources to cope with these demands may lead to chronic exhaustion and cynicism ( Bakker et al, 2014 ). Research has shown that this process may also take place in a military context (e.g., Chappelle et al, 2019 ; Elliman et al, 2021 ; Gottschall and Guérin, 2021 ). Service members in deployment situations, who are exposed to danger and trauma in war, run the risk of developing burnout symptoms when insufficient coping takes place ( Vinokur et al, 2011 ; Delahaij et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Team Coping: Cross-Level Influence of Team Member Coping Activities on Individual Burnout

2021

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Coping with stress has been primarily investigated as an individual-level phenomenon. In work settings, however, an individual’s exposure to demands is often shared with co-workers, and the process of dealing with these demands takes place in the interaction with them. Coping, therefore, may be conceptualized as a multilevel construct. This paper introduces the team coping concept and shows that including coping as a higher-level team property may help explain individual-level outcomes. Specifically, we investigated the effects of exposure to danger during deployment on burnout symptoms in military service members and examined to what extent this relationship was moderated by individual-level and team-level functional coping. We hypothesized that the relationship between individuals’ exposure to danger and burnout is contingent on both. In line with our predictions, we found that service members who were highly exposed to danger, and did not engage in much functional coping, suffered most from burnout symptoms, but only when their teammates did not engage in much functional coping either. When their teammates did engage in much functional coping, the effect of exposure to danger on burnout was buffered. Hence, team members’ coping efforts functioned as a resilience resource for these service members.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Team Coping: Cross-Level Influence of Team Member Coping Activities on Individual Burnout

2021

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Physical Injuries, Treatment-Seeking, and Perceived Barriers to Treatment in U.S. Army Drill Sergeants

et al. 2022

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Introduction Drill sergeants work under mentally and physically challenging conditions. The current study examined self-reported rates of physical injuries in drill sergeants; rates of treatment-seeking for injuries; perceived barriers toward treatment-seeking; and associated demographic and environmental factors. Materials and Methods Drill sergeants from across all Army basic training locations completed self-report surveys from September to November of 2018. In total, 726 drill sergeants were included in analyses. Drill sergeants indicated whether they had acquired an injury during their time in the drill sergeant role and whether they had sought treatment for all such injuries. Furthermore, drill sergeants rated their agreement with a number of possible perceived barriers to treatment-seeking for physical injuries. Regression models examining each phenomenon included hours of sleep obtained per day; general- and health-specific leadership behaviors of the company command teams; unit cohesion; time as a drill sergeant; duty location; gender; military operational specialty; years in the military; previous combat deployments; and route of assignment. The study was approved by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Institutional Review Board. Results In total, 38% of respondents reported acquiring an injury during their time as drill sergeants. Of those who had acquired an injury, 61% reported seeking medical help for all injuries acquired. Injuries were more likely in females (49%) than in males (34%) and less likely in drill sergeants reporting at least 6 hours of sleep (27%) versus those reporting 5 hours (40%) and 4 hours or less (43%). Reported comparisons were significant after controlling for demographic and environmental variables in regression models. The most strongly endorsed perceived barriers to treatment-seeking were “Seeking help would place too much burden on the other drill sergeants” (69%) and “Seeking help would interfere with my ability to train the recruits” (60%). Both of these perceived barriers were significantly associated with reduced treatment-seeking in injured drill sergeants, after controlling for demographic and environmental variables. Conclusions This study is the first to examine injury occurrence, treatment-seeking, and perceived barriers to treatment-seeking in U.S. Army drill sergeants. Building on previous studies that showed the negative effects of sleep deprivation on the safety and behavioral health of drill sergeants, the current study gives further evidence of the negative effects of such sleep deprivation, this time in the domain of physical injuries. The results suggest that pursuing strategies that allow for healthier sleep duration may contribute to injury reduction.

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US Army Drill Sergeants: Stressors, Behavioral Health, and Mitigating Factors

Cited by 2 publications

References 37 publications

Team Coping: Cross-Level Influence of Team Member Coping Activities on Individual Burnout

Team Coping: Cross-Level Influence of Team Member Coping Activities on Individual Burnout

Physical Injuries, Treatment-Seeking, and Perceived Barriers to Treatment in U.S. Army Drill Sergeants

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