Home › Australian peacekeepers: The long-term effects on mental health status, health service use and quality of life

Australian peacekeepers: The long-term effects on mental health status, health service use and quality of life

 Currently The University of Melbourne is undertaking a major study of the long term effects on mental health and the quality of life of Australian Defence Force personnel who were deployed as peacekeepers from the 1990s to 2002.

Although there have been a number of Australian studies on the impact of military personnel deployed to Vietnam, Korea and the Persian Gulf, to date none have specifically targeted the long-term effects of Peacekeeping and Peacemaking Operations.

Former peacekeepers who were deployed during the 1990s to Namibia, Western Sahara, Cambodia, Rwanda, Somalia and East Timor deployments during 1999-2002 have been randomly selected and have been approached by the study team. These deployments have been selected because they represent a good sample of Australian deployments during the 1990s and early 2000s, both geographically and environmentally – covering a range of stresses and traumatic exposures.

Any veteran peacekeepers who have agreed to participate but haven’t heard from the study team can either email Mr. Andrew Rodsted (arodsted@unimelb.edu.au) or Dr Sam Korn (korns@unimelb.edu.au) or give them a call on: 03 83445511. The reason for this last request is that for a large number of respondents the study team only has an email address as the contact method. There are a small number of email addresses where (for whatever reason) the email address is not working and they are unable to contact these veterans.

Only those peacekeepers who have been selected at random and invited to participate in the study can actually undertake the survey. This is to ensure the presentation of unbiased data from a completely randomised sample across the seven deployments in order to present the most objective conclusions from the research.

This current study will assist in providing a comprehensive picture about the long-term mental-health consequences of participating in Peacekeeping and Peacemaking Operations. These results will assist in identifying to the Department of Defence any issues arising in this area and enable the implementation of change.

By now invitations have been sent out to all selected participants and the study is entering the final stages of data collection. Unfortunately the current response is below what is required for the study to be considered successful. The study head, A/Professor Hawthorne, encourages as many of the invited veterans as possible to participate in the study, saying “it is important to have peacekeepers from all walks of life participating because this ensures the study findings are accurate and robust”.

The study researchers would like to;

  • Strongly encourage any peacekeeper veteran who has been approached to participate in the study;
  • For those who haven’t yet done so, to return their consent forms indicating if they are willing or not to participate;
  • Remind those who have already agreed to participate to log on to the study website (http://128.250.124.156/survey/) using their study usernames and passwords and to complete the study survey as soon as possible;

The study is funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs and has the support of the Returned and Services League of Australia and the Australian Peacekeepers and Peacemakers Veteran's Association.

Click here for further information on the Australian Peacekeepers Study.

Enquiries are also welcome by either emailing Mr. Andrew Rodsted (arodsted@unimelb.edu.au) or Dr Sam Korn (korns@unimelb.edu.au ) or calling on 03 8344 5511.

The study is entering the final phase of data collection so time is running short to have your say.

Research collaborators

  • A/Professor Graeme Hawthorne, PhD, Dr Sam Korn, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne
  • Professor Malcolm Sim, Director, Monash Centre for Occupational & Environmental Health (MonCOEH), Department of Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine, Monash University
  • Professor Alexander McFarlane, Head, The Centre of Military and Veterans' Health, University of Adelaide

Back to top