COMPARISON OF MENTAL HEALTH OF MILITARY PERSONNEL AND SOLDIERS IN ONE OF THE ARMY UNITS IN AHVAZ. IRAN

Introduction: Military job and work environment in a way that creates a lot of stress for person. Attention to the mental health of military forces is an obvious case. Aim of this study is comparison of mental health staffs and soldiers in one of the Army units Ahvaz Iran. Methods: This study was conducted as a cross-sectional study. The study population consisted of all personnel staff and soldiers of one of the Army units in Ahvaz. Sample size was 250 (125 staff and 125 soldiers). In this study for gathering of information was used from general health questionnaire (GHQ-28). Independent t-test for the quantitative variables and chi-square test was used to compare qualitative variables. For analyze statistical data was used of statistical software SPSS version 20. Results: The means score of mental health was 40.27 for staff and 36.3 for soldiers that both were unhealthy level. Soldiers had higher levels of mental health (P-value = 0.004). This study showed that the majority of staff (97.6 percent) and soldiers (96.4 percent) had poor mental health condition. Majority of staff (59.8 percent) and majority of soldiers (70.7 percent) had mild level of psychological problems. Conclusion: Most military personnel in this study had unhealthy mental health conditions and the level of mental health problems were mild. Soldiers had higher levels of mental health. More attention has necessary for mental health in military environment, in particular psychological environment of constant military staff. Key Words: Mental health, Military Personnel , GHQ-28