Construction and application of training scheme of group psychological training in army sergeants

Abstract

Objective To develop a training scheme of psychological training for the developmental group of army sergeants and explore the intervention efficacy of the scheme on their psychological health. Methods Delphi method was used to construct a psychological training program for the developmental group of army sergeants. Eighty army sergeants were recruited as the research subjects, and randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group, with 40 individuals in each group. The experimental group received 10 sessions (90~120 min per session) of group psychological training based on our training program, while the control group received regular psychological health education and political education. The training effects were evaluated using the Self-Rating Depression Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, Psychological Resilience Scale, Perceived Social Support Scale, Brief Coping Style Questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale, Big Five Personality Inventory, and Self-Evaluation Questionnaire for Group Psychological Training before and in 1 week after the training. Results ① Our training program consisted of 3 units and 8 themes. The first unit focused on self-development, including self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-growth. The second unit focused on emotion and stress management, including emotion regulation and stress management. The third unit focused on social development, including interpersonal communication, relationship adjustment, and career planning. ② After the training, the experimental group had significantly decreased scores of PHQ and GAD (P < 0.05), and the PHQ score was obviously lower than that of the control group (P < 0.05). ③ The total score of psychological resilience, as well as the sub-scales of toughness, strength, and optimism, significantly increased in the experimental group (P < 0.05), and were significantly higher than those of the control group (P < 0.05). ④ After the training, the dimension of friend support in social support was significantly increased in the experimental group (P < 0.05) and it was notably higher than that of the control group (P < 0.05). ⑤ The positive coping score was significantly increased in the experimental group after the training (P < 0.05). ⑥ The extraversion dimension of the Big Five Personality Inventory was significantly increased in the experimental group after the training (P < 0.05). Conclusion Our training scheme for army sergeants can effectively alleviate anxiety and depression, increase positive coping styles, enhance psychological resilience, friend support in social support, and extraversion in the Big Five Personality.

Keywords

• army sergeants
• group psychological training
• psychological health
• intervention study