DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A VULNERABILITY QUESTIONNAIRE (VFB) FOR PREDICTING MENTAL DISORDERS

Background:The mental health problems have increased in recent decades. A vulnerability questionnaire(Vulnerabilitätsfragebogen – VFB)has been developed in order to identify at-risk personnel.

Methods: The questionnaire was validated on a sample of 179 male and female soldiers who served in combat units in Afghanistan and who completed the VFB before deployment. A cut-off value was determined prior to deployment and assessed in comparison to the presence of mental disorders that were identified after deployment on the basis of a clinical interview (Mini-DIPS).

Results: The internal consistency of the questionnaire was acceptable (Cronbach’s alpha = .73). The VFB had a sensitivity of 33.3% and a specificity of 79.5% for predicting mental disorders.

Discussion: In the pre-deployment setting, the VFB – on the basis of the cut-off value – identified one third of the soldiers who developed a post-deployment mental disorder. A total of 20.5% of the soldiers who returned from combat duty and did not experience a mental disorder had been assessed as vulnerable prior to deployment.It is a brief instrument that enables to obtain useful information for an initial assessment of an individual’s vulnerability to mental disorders.