Mental health screening of Iranian conscripts during basic military training in Guilan province

Purpose: Aside from psychological suffering, mental disease can bring about a negative influence on conscripts learning abilities and reduce effectiveness of military trainings. Hence, identifying at risk conscripts is of vital importance. This study aimed to investigate the mental health of conscripts during a two-year period from 2011 to 2013 in a military base in Guilan. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, the mental health of 930 conscripts (mean age of 19.78 ± 1.57 years old) was assessed using a 28-item general health questionnaire (GHQ-28), during basic military training. Acquired data were analyzed using the chi-squared test (α = 0.01). Results: Of the participants, 35.2% were identified as potential at risk conscripts. There was a significant difference in participants’ age and education level regarding mental health (P = .007 and .005, respectively). No significance was found on marital status (P = .483). Concerning subscales, 30.6% had physical symptoms, 38.5% had anxiety and insomnia, 54.2% had social dysfunction and 20.9% had severe depression. Conclusion: To prevent symptom exacerbation of at risk conscripts and to reduce treatment costs of military training bases, it is recommended that psychological assessment be done before conscription, not during it.