Identifcation of susceptibility of motion sickness with rotation test coupled with psychological analysis in deployed personnel at sea

Abstract

Objective To explore methods for early identification of susceptibility of motion sickness in deployed personnel at sea.Methods Motion sickness history questionnaire (MSQ) and seasickness self efficacy scale (SSES) were used to survey the 142 personnel deployed at sea.Forty seven subjects were chosen to have the rotation test and the test results were compared with the actual incidence rate of motion sickness.Results (1) Scores of motion sickness history questionnaire for the motion sickness group were (47.32 ±32.91),which were obviously higher than that (21.73 ± 14.21)for the non-sickness group.(2)Scores of seasickness self-efficacy scalefor the motion sickness group were (6.83 ± 0.83),which were significantly lowerthan that (8.92 ± 2.03) for the non-sickness group(P ＜ 0.01).(3) The incidence of motion sickness induced by the rotation test coincided very well with actual incidence of seasickness during deployment at sea.The accuracy of motion sickness as predicted by the rotation test was 72.72％,while actual incidence of motion sickness during deployment at sea was 68.09％ (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions MSQ,SSES and rotation test seemed to be an effective identification tool for the susceptibility of motion sickness among deployed personnel at sea. Key words: Motion sickness; Psychological analysis; Rotation test