2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

the number of items to decrease the length of the survey. While a number of items were
excluded due to no longer being relevant or appearing to duplicate other questions, further items
were added to address issues previously excluded. The new additions included items on
Wellbeing, Internal Communication, Security, Occupational Health and Safety and Equity and
Diversity (which had been included in the 1999 iteration of the survey). Further demographic
items were also added regarding work hours (predicability of and requirement to be on-call) as
well as awareness of Organisational Renewal and the Defence Strategy Map. The additions
resulted in more items being included in the 2002 survey than the 2001 version, however total
numbers were still lower than the original 1999 questionnaire.
Mental Health Literacy Items
Attitudinal items were provided response options on a five-point scale where
one equalled ‘Strongly Disagree’ and five equalled ‘Strongly Agree’ (a
number of the items were rated on satisfaction or importance scales, rather
than the more common agreement scale).
A pool of potential mental health literacy items was identified from a variety of sources
in the literature. These were then workshopped among subject matter experts and the final form
of the items was agreed by the ASRP; the final set of items were:
• How would you rate your knowledge of mental health issues?
• Do you think mental health is an issue Defence should address?
• How would you rate your own mental health?’
• If you thought or felt you were mentally unwell, where would you seek help?
• Alcohol abuse is a problem within Defence.
• Drug abuse (including steroids) is a problem within Defence.
• My social support network is satisfactory should I need to ask for help or talk about personal
problems.
Sampling
The sample for the Defence Attitude Survey is typically stratified by rank, however,
concerns had been raised by Group Heads that Groups were not being representatively. Thus,
for the 2002 sample, the thirty percent representation of the Organisation was stratified by both
rank and Group. Recruits and Officer-Cadets were not included in the sample, as per the 2001
administration. Upon request, the whole of the Inspector General’s Department was surveyed to
provide sufficient numbers for reporting on this small Group.
Administration
The survey was administered as a ‘paper and pencil’ scannable form and employed a
‘mail-out, mail-back’ methodology. For a selection of personnel in the Canberra region, where
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45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003