Screening for physical and psychological illness in the British Armed Forces: I: The acceptability of the programme.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the response to a self-administered questionnaire and attendance of a medical centre for physical and psychological health screening.


METHODS
4500 men and women from the three services were randomly selected to receive either a full or abridged screening questionnaire. The full questionnaire included the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) checklist, 15 symptoms, a self-assessed health status question and three questions on alcohol behaviour (WHO Audit). The abridged questionnaire included GHQ-4, a slightly shortened PTSD checklist and five symptoms, but excluded questions on alcohol behaviour. All 'screen-positive' and a random 'screen-negative' sample were invited to attend a medical centre.


RESULTS
67.1% of the servicemen completed a questionnaire; slightly but significantly more the abridged than the full questionnaire (4.9%, 95% confidence interval 2.3-7.4%). Of those receiving a full or abridged questionnaire, 32% and 22.5% respectively were 'screen-positives', most of the difference (7.5%) attributable to alcohol behaviour. Less than 30% of the servicemen invited to attend a medical centre accepted the invitation, even fewer during the preparation for deployment to Iraq. Those who fulfilled the criteria for PTSD, alcohol behaviour or multi-criteria 'screen-positive' were more reluctant than controls to attend.


CONCLUSIONS
Screening for psychological illness has little support among servicemen, perhaps because they may not wish to share concerns with a military doctor. Avoidance behaviour among those with a psychological condition may also selectively reduce willingness to attend a medical centre. Screening during pre-deployment periods has even less support than at other times.
Rona
R J
RJ
Department of Public Health Sciences, Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School Medicine, London. Roberto.rona@kcl.ac.uk
Jones
M
M
French
C
C
Hooper
R
R
Wessely
S
S
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008887:Military Medicine; D008889:Military Personnel; D008890:Military Psychiatry; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011897:Random Allocation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom