2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

d. The sample is based on peace operations and so should be broadened to
incorporate warlike operations 72 .
Having identified the limitation to the study, there is certainly the capacity within
the current data set to address some of these and there is scope within the RtAPS process
to address the remainder.
CONCLUSION
The RtAPS process has been modified to take into account a number of the
recommendations made by Deans (2002) 73 while others have yet to be incorporated, and
some are simply too difficult to implement. However, the process clearly provides very
useful information for the organisation and is a useful part of the provision of individual
mental health support to the ADF.
However there is also broad organisational information available from the RtAPS
process that can contribute to the wellbeing of the organisation as opposed to just the
individual. In particular the ability to link mental health data to career intentions and to
be able to gain some indication of the impact of the operation on the individual’s career
intentions could provide a useful organisational “triage”. To do this, the items in the
current RtAPS should be retained and a comparison made across warlike and non-warlike
operations, as well as attempts made to look at the causes of changes in members’ career
intentions.
72 Anecdotal evidence would suggest that the psychological impacts of warlike service are different.
73 Op cit.
709
45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003