Prevalence of post traumatic stress disorder, and coping strategies, among former South African national servicemen

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the extent of resilience among former national servicemen who had matriculated from a Johannesburg high school from 1975 to 1988. Design & Methods: A quantitative design which utilised an anonymous, internet-based questionnaire accessed a sample of former national servicemen. Demographic data such as year of intake to national service, current occupation, the type of service unit, combat exposure, drug and alcohol use, exposure to other traumatic events, and recourse to medication and counselling were obtained. The Impact of Event Scale –Revised (IES-R) was used to measure prevalence of PTSD and the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CDRISC) was chosen to provide a measure of coping. A sample of 109 men was traced out of a possible population of 1527. They were contacted via email and invited to participate in the anonymous web-based questionnaire. Data was processed from the Wits Health Sciences website via a Microsoft Excel worksheet to the STATA version 11 statistical software package and were subjected to regression analysis using the chi square test and Spearman’s rho. Results: The response rate was 49.5% of the sample of 109. The PTSD level in this sample was 33% and was statistically significantly associated with combat exposure. There was no association between the IES-R and the CD-RISC. Only 5.6% of respondents scored in the range for PTSD on the CD-RISC suggesting high levels of resilience in this sample. Current cannabis use was significantly linked with PTSD. Conclusions. The PTSD prevalence in this population of former national servicemen is higher than in comparable international studies. The primary care practitioner needs to consider prior exposure to national service or combat in routine history-taking and to consider PTSD when former national servicemen present with anxiety symptoms, depression, somatisation disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain or substance abuse disorder.