title: Medical and Welfare Officers beliefs about post-deployment screening for mental health disorders in the UK Armed Forces: a qualitative study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study aimed to examine currently serving United Kingdom (UK) military Medical and Welfare Officers views on the potential introduction of post-deployment screening for mental ill health.
  
  
  METHODS
  Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 Medical and Welfare Officers. Interview transcripts were analysed using data-driven thematic analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four themes were identified: positive views of screening; reliability of responses; impact on workload; and suggestions for implementation. Interviewees viewed the introduction of screening post-deployment as likely to increase awareness of mental health problems whilst also reporting that service personnel were likely to conceal their true mental health status by providing misleading responses to any screening tool. Concern over reliability of responses may provide one explanation for the reluctance of service personnel to seek help for problems, as they could feel they will not be taken seriously. Welfare Officers felt they would not have the knowledge or experience to respond to help-seeking. Although participants were concerned about potential impact on their personal workload, they indicated a desire to positively engage with the screening programme if research showed it was an effective tool to improve mental health care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Welfare and healthcare providers are well disposed towards a screening programme for mental health but highlight a few concerns in its implementation. In particular Welfare Officers appear to require more training in how to respond to mental ill health. Concerns about available funding and resources to respond to increased workload will need to be addressed should post-deployment screening for mental health be introduced in the UK military.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, 2nd Floor Zochonis Building, Brunswick Street, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK. samantha.bull@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bull
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, 10 Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RJ, UK. gursimran.thandi@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gursimran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thandi
authors.affiliation: Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families (CIR), School of Social Work, University of Southern California, 1150 S. Olive Street, Suite 1400, Los Angeles, CA, 90015, USA. mkeeling@usc.edu.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keeling
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, 10 Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RJ, UK. melanie.chesnokov@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chesnokov
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, 10 Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RJ, UK. sososanta@aol.com.
authors.forename: Neil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, 10 Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RJ, UK. norman.jones@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Norman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, 10 Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RJ, UK. roberto.rona@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rona
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, Weston Education Centre, 10 Cutcombe Road, London, SE5 9RJ, UK. stephani.hatch@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Stephani L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Hatch
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000458:organization & administration*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008603:Mental Health; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D006113:United Kingdom; D016526:Workload