2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

358
Measures of Wellbeing in the Australian Defence Force
Colonel A.J. Cotton,
Director of Mental Health
Australian Defence Force, Canberra, Australia
Anthony.Cotton@defence.gov.au
Ms Emma Gorney
Directorate of Strategic Personnel Planning and Research
Department of Defence, Canberra, Australia
Emma.Gorney@defence.gov.au
Abstract
Cotton (2002) reported on the establishment of a Wellbeing program in the Australian
Defence Force, concluding that a key issue was to identify appropriate measures of
wellbeing that would allow comparison with measures of objective personnel capability in
order that wellbeing could be incorporated into ADF capability planning. This paper
reports the results of the ADF’s first attempts to identify such measures and how they might
relate to personnel capability and other key strategic personnel indicators.
INTRODUCTION
The Australian Defence Force Mental Health Strategy (ADF MHS) was established
in 2002 to provide an overarching strategy for the provision of mental health services to the
ADF (Cotton, 2002). The strategy is built around eight initiatives:
• Improving mental health literacy in the ADF.
• Integrating the provision of mental health services by ADF providers.
• Improving treatment options available to ADF members.
• The development of a comprehensive training and accreditation framework for ADF
providers.
• The implementation of a comprehensive mental health research and surveillance
program in the ADF.
• The implementation of the ADF Drug and Alcohol Program (DAP)
• The implementation of the ADF Suicide Prevention Program (SPP)
• The enhancement of wellbeing and resiliance in ADF members.
The last of these initiatives has been operationalised through the establishment of
the Australian Defence Organisation (ADO 19 ) Wellbeing Forum (Cotton, 2002). This is a
voluntary organisation of those agencies within the ADO that feel that they make some
contribution to the sell being of ADF member or Defence civilians. One of the early
decisions made by the Wellbeing forum was that ability to measure wellbing as objectively
as possible was identified as a key requirement for the success of the program in the ADF.
19 ADO refers to the collective group of ADF (i.e., uniformed) and Defence civilian employees of the
ADF. Note that focus of this paper in wellbeing in ADF members.
45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003