Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T02:10:00.970Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Peacekeepers deserve more mental health research and care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jun Shigemura ,
Masanori Nagamine ,
Nahoko Harada ,
Masaaki Tanichi ,
Kunio Shimizu  and
Aihide Yoshino
Jun Shigemura*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, National Defense Medical College, Tokorozawa, Japan
Masanori Nagamine
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, National Defense Medical College, Tokorozawa, Japan
Nahoko Harada
Affiliation:
Division of Nursing, School of Medicine, National Defense Medical College, Tokorozawa, Japan
Masaaki Tanichi
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, National Defense Medical College, Tokorozawa, Japan
Kunio Shimizu
Affiliation:
Division of Behavioral Science, National Defense Medical College Research Institute, National Defense Medical College, Tokorozawa, Japan
Aihide Yoshino
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, National Defense Medical College, Tokorozawa, Japan
*
Jun Shigemura, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, National Defense Medical College, 3-2 Namiki, Tokorozawa, Saitama 359-8513, Japan. Email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

United Nations peacekeeping personnel face numerous stressors due to their challenging deployments. Past studies have had inconsistent results regarding whether or not their deployment experience affects their mental health outcomes. Further studies are required to ascertain the associations between their outcomes and factors before, during and after their peacekeeping missions.

Type
Editorial
Information
BJPsych Open , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , March 2016 , pp. e3 - e4
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2016

Footnotes

Declaration of interest

None.

References

1 United Nations. UN Peacekeeping Operations Fact Sheet: 31 October 2015. UN, 2015 (http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/documents/bnote1015.pdf).Google Scholar
2 Shigemura, J, Nomura, S. Mental health issues of peacekeeping workers. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2002; 56: 483–91.Google Scholar
3 Sareen, J, Cox, BJ, Afifi, TO, Stein, BM, Belik, SL, Meadows, G, et al. Combat and peacekeeping operations in relation to prevalence of mental disorders and perceived need for mental health care: findings from a large representative sample of military personnel. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2007; 64: 843–52.Google Scholar
4 Seet, B, Burnham, GM. Fatality trends in United Nations peacekeeping operations, 1948–1998. JAMA 2000; 284: 598–603.Google Scholar
5 Sawamura, T, Shimizu, K, Masaki, Y, Kobayashi, N, Sugawara, M, Tsunoda, T, et al. Mental health in Japanese members of the United Nations peacekeeping contingent in the Golan Heights: effects of deployment and the Middle East situation. Am J Orthopsychiatry 2008; 78: 85–92.Google Scholar
6 Han, CS, Kim, YK. Psychiatric symptoms reported by international peacekeeping personnel in the Western Sahara Desert. J Nerv Ment Dis 2001; 189: 858–60.Google Scholar
7 Chen, SD, Sun, XY, Zhang, LY, Kong, LM, Chen, LJ, Guo, J, et al. Psychological maladjustment of Asian and African peacekeepers in Liberia and its related factors. Psychol Health Med 2015; 21: 460–8.Google Scholar
8 Souza, WF, Figueira, I, Mendlowicz, MV, Volchan, E, Portella, CM, Mendonça-de-Souza, AC, et al. Posttraumatic stress disorder in peacekeepers: a meta-analysis. J Nerv Ment Dis 2011; 199: 309–12.Google Scholar
9 Sareen, J, Stein, MB, Thoresen, S, Belik, SL, Zamorski, M, Asmundson, GJ. Is peacekeeping peaceful? A systematic review. Can J Psychiatry 2010; 55: 464–72.Google Scholar
10 Forbes, D, O'Donnell, M, Brand, RM, Korn, S, Creamer, M, McFarlane, AC, et al. The long-term mental health impact of peacekeeping: prevalence and predictors of psychiatric disorder. BJPsych Open 2016; 2: 32–7.Google Scholar
11 Warner, CH, Appenzeller, GN, Parker, JR, Warner, CM, Hoge, CW. Effectiveness of mental health screening and coordination of in-theater care prior to deployment to Iraq: a cohort study. Am J Psychiatry 2011; 168: 378–85.Google Scholar
12 Michel, PO, Lundin, T, Larsson, G. Stress reactions among Swedish peacekeeping soldiers serving in Bosnia: a longitudinal study. J Trauma Stress 2003; 16: 589–93.Google Scholar
13 Shigemura, J, Tanigawa, T, Saito, I, Nomura, S. Psychological distress in workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plants. JAMA 2012; 308: 667–9.Google Scholar
14 Brounéus, K. On return from peacekeeping: a review of current research on psychological well-being in military personnel returning from operational deployment. J Mil Veterans Health 2014; 22: 2530.Google Scholar
15 Connorton, E, Perry, MJ, Hemenway, D, Miller, M. Humanitarian relief workers and trauma-related mental illness. Epidemiol Rev 2012; 34: 145–55.Google Scholar
16 Strohmeier, H, Scholte, WF. Trauma-related mental health problems among national humanitarian staff: a systematic review of the literature. Eur J Psychotraumatol 2015; 6: 28541.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.