“Warriors”: Impact of a Powerful Television Drama on the Psychological Health of U.K. Bosnia Peacekeepers

PURPOSE: The impact of secondary trauma, such as watching powerful images on television, on the etiologyofposttraumaticstressdisorderinadultsremainscontroversial.Weexploredtheimpactofapowerful TV drama (‘‘Warriors’’) on the psychological health of U.K. peacekeeping troops compared with other military personnel who also saw the program but did not deploy on the same mission. METHODS: Psychological health (health perception, fatigue, posttraumatic stress reactions and common mental disorders) was assessed via questionnaire in a group of 1463 U.K. Armed Forces personnel before and after the televising of an award-winning dramatic reconstruction (‘‘Warriors’’) of events in Former Yugoslavia, a deployment in which some of the respondents had participated (Bosnia group) and some who had not (Era group). Information was also collected on whether participants had seen Warriors. RESULTS: Those who had deployed to Bosnia were more likely to have watched the drama, and viewers were more likely to be posttraumatic stress reactions and common mental disorders cases before transmissionoftheprogram.Therewerefewhealthdifferencesbetweenviewersandnonviewers,andBosniaviewers and Era viewers, posttransmission. Viewing status and group status (Bosnia/Era) restricted to viewers only did not predict posttransmission health outcomes, with one exception. Group status (viewers only) was a significant predictor of posttransmission fatigue, with Bosnia viewers more likely to be cases. Additional analyses, however, revealed the same finding for nonviewers. CONCLUSIONS: We found no evidence that those with symptoms of traumatic distress avoided watching a drama relevant to their experiences and no evidence of adverse effects on mental health. Ann Epidemiol 2011;21:660–665. 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.