title: Psychological morbidity, quality of life, and self-rated health in the military personnel.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The mental health of military personnel varies as a result of different cultural, political, and administrative factors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychological morbidity and quality of life of military personnel in Taiwan.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study utilized the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument, brief version, Taiwan version, the General Health Questionnaire-12, Chinese version, and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) in several military units.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than half of the subjects (55.3%) identified themselves as mentally unhealthy on the General Health Questionnaire-12, Chinese version; however, a higher percentage of officers perceived themselves as healthy (57.4%) than did noncommissioned officers (38.5%) or enlisted men (42.2%). Officers also had higher total quality of life (QOL) scores (83.98) than did enlisted men (79.67). Scores on the VAS also varied: officers: 72.5; noncommissioned officers: 67.7; and enlisted men: 66.3. The VAS and QOL were positively correlated with perceived mental health among these military personnel.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our subjects had higher rates of perceiving themselves as mentally unhealthy compared to the general population. Those of higher rank perceived themselves as having better mental health and QOL. Improving mental health could result in a better QOL in the military. The VAS may be a useful tool for the rapid screening of self-reported mental health, which may be suitable in cases of stressful missions, such as in disaster rescue; however, more studies are needed to determine the optimal cut-off point of this measurement tool.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, School of Medicine ; Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, Beitou Branch, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; ; Department of Psychiatry, Tao-Yuan General Hospital, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan;
authors.forename: Han-Wei
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Tri-Service General Hospital, School of Nursing ; Student Counseling Center.
authors.forename: Wen-Chii
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Tzeng
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan;
authors.forename: Yu-Ching
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Tri-Service General Hospital, School of Nursing ; Department of Nursing, School of Nursing, Kang-Ning Health Care and Management College, Taipei, Taiwan;
authors.forename: Hui-Wen
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, School of Medicine ; Student Counseling Center.
authors.forename: Hsin-An
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, School of Medicine ; Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, Song-Shan Branch, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Cheng
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, School of Medicine ; Student Counseling Center.
authors.forename: Nian-Sheng
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Tzeng
keywords: Taiwan; general health scale; military; quality of life