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Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness Technical Report #4

Thursday April 18, 2013

What is it?

Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness, U.S. Army, recently completed Technical Report #4 PDF, which found that Army units leveraging their Master Resilience Trainer are more likely to have a lower rate of diagnoses for mental health problems in Soldiers.

The goal of Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness (CSF2) is to improve the health of members of the Army Family by giving them the tools they need to be more psychologically resilient. The Master Resilience Trainer (MRT) component of CSF2 is the primary method of delivering resilience skills to Soldiers. Through the MRT course, non-commissioned officers (NCOs) receive classroom training in resilience-building techniques. These NCOs return to their units and provide resilience skills training to Soldiers.

What is the Army doing?

In Technical Report #4, researchers sought to evaluate the effectiveness of CSF2 by determining if providing Army companies with MRTs had a positive impact on objective health outcomes. It was found that over time, units with MRTs had significantly lower rates of substance abuse diagnoses (drug and alcohol abuse) and diagnoses for mental health problems (anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder) compared to units without MRTs.

This evaluation provides additional evidence that MRTs may help bolster psychological resilience and reduce the incidence of serious mental and behavioral problems among Soldiers. Therefore, Army leaders at all levels should continue to leverage their MRTs as an invaluable resource to Soldiers and their families.

What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future?

Technical Report #4 is part of an on-going effort in which CSF2 constantly monitors its effectiveness and outcomes. Technical Reports #1-2 focused on the evaluation of relationships between reported resilience and Soldier outcomes. Technical Report #3 looked at the program evaluation and Longitudinal Analysis of the Impact of Master Resilience Training on Self-Reported Resilience and Psychological Health Data.

Why is this important to the Army?

Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness is a key component of the Army’s Ready and Resilient Campaign, and is committed to developing an Army culture of total fitness and increased psychological health. CSF2 is the primary program that supports the campaign’s main effort – to build and maintain resilient Soldiers and ready units.

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