Abstract
Musculoskeletal injury mitigation is a priority in military organisations to protect personnel health and sustain a capable workforce. Despite efforts to prevent injury, inconsistencies exist in the evidence used to support these activities. There are many known limitations in the injury surveillance data reported in previous Special Operation Forces (SOF) research. Such studies often lack accurate, reliable, and complete data to inform and evaluate injury prevention activities. This research aimed to achieve expert consensus on injury surveillance methods in SOF to enhance the quality of data that could be used to inform injury prevention in this population. A Delphi study was conducted with various military injury surveillance stakeholders to seek agreement on improving surveillance methods in SOF. Iterative questionnaires using close and open-ended questions were used to collect views about surveillance methods related to injury case definitions and identifying essential and optional data requirements. Consensus was predefined as 75% group agreement on an item. Sixteen participants completed two rounds of questionnaires required. Consensus was achieved for 17.9% (n = 7) of questions in the first-round and 77.5% (n = 38) of round two questions. Several challenges for surveillance were identified, including recording injury causation, SOF personnel's injury reporting behaviours influencing accurate data collection, and surveillance system infrastructure limitations. Key military injury surveillance stakeholders support the need for improved data collection to enhance the evidence that underpins injury prevention efforts. The consensus process has resulted in preliminary recommendations to support future SOF injury surveillance.
Highlights
Musculoskeletal injuries impose an extensive burden on military organisations, impacting military capability and having significant financial costs [1,2]
This study aims to identify a consensus of opinions between military injury surveillance stakeholders related to data requirements and surveillance methods’ relevant to Special Operation Forces (SOF)
40% of experts had prior experience working with SOF personnel
Summary
Musculoskeletal injuries impose an extensive burden on military organisations, impacting military capability and having significant financial costs [1,2]. For these reasons, injury mitigation is repeatedly stressed as an organisational and research priority to protect personnel’s health and sustain a capable workforce [2,3]. Despite increasing efforts to reduce injuries in the military, little attention has been given to improving the surveillance methods used to collect the necessary data that underpin the scientific foundations of these prevention actions. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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