Combat Exposure and Unit Cohesion as Predictors of Depressive Symptoms Among Nigerian Soldiers

Abstract

The Bokoharam terrorist organisation has been terrorizing North Eastern Nigeria for decades. The Nigerian Army has been saddled with the responsibility of re-establishing peace in that area through its counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations. Some of the soldiers who were injured at course of this operation were found to have some challenges with their wellbeing. This study was carried out among Nigerian Soldiers wounded in action and hospitalized from the fight against Insurgency in the North-eastern part of Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select 225 participants under hospital admission in 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital Kaduna with combat experience. Data were collected using standardized questionnaires. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses in relation to Combat Exposure and Unit Cohesion as predictors of Depressive Symptoms. Findings of the study revealed that Combat Exposure significantly predicted Depressive symptoms among Nigerian Soldiers wounded in action (β = .583, P <.01). Result further revealed that Unit Cohesion was a significant predictor of Depressive Symptoms among the soldiers wounded in action (β = -.177, P <.01). Finally, the result revealed that combined Combat Exposure and Unit Cohesion significantly predicted Depressive Symptoms among Nigerian soldiers wounded in action (R = .647a, R2 = .418, Adj. R2 = .411; P <. 01). The study recommended that the military authorities should effectively engage the services of mental health professionals such as the Psychologists to help in assessment and treating soldiers with combat trauma. Also, mood disorder alongside other factors such as life experience should be assessed as applied to the patients especially soldier patients being referred from combat arears irrespective of the nature of the health challenges as this study has shown that there is mental aspect of physical injury. Most of the soldiers are traumatized, overly depressed, feel guilty and have bad mood, poor appetites, insomnia, lack of motivation, rage, and abuse of drugs and alcohol.