Severity Profiles of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Among Non-Commissioned Officers in the Ghana Armed Forces: A Cross-Sectional Study at Burma Camp

Background Mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and stress are increasingly prevalent worldwide and have negative impacts on individuals and society. In Ghana's military setting, studies have shown a rise in mental health issues, yet there is limited research on the prevalence of these disorders among different demographic groups at the Burma Camp. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence and distribution of depression, anxiety, and stress among different demographic group and occupational factors at Burma Camp. Methods The research study utilized a cross-sectional design and involved the sampling of 184 Non-Commissioned Officers (NCO) in the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) using a multistage sampling technique. Data was collected on various demographic and occupational factors of military personnel in Ghana. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used to assess the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress among the participants. The Wilcoxon Rank-Sum test and Kruskal-Walli’s test were utilized to examine the relationship between demographic and occupational factors and the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. Meanwhile, Dunn's pairwise comparison was used to identify the differences in anxiety levels among military personnel of different age groups. The statistical significance was set at a p-value less than 0.05. Results We found that 55.98% of them reported feeling anxious, 52.17% reported feeling depressed, and 33.15% reported feeling stressed. There was a statistically significant relationship between age and anxiety (p = 0.030), marital status and depression (p = 0.014), and deployment on peace keeping missions and stress (p = 0.021). Deployment on peace keeping mission was also associated with increasing stress level and married military men experienced depression more. Dunn’s test showed that the mean anxiety level for the 20–25 age group was 1.89 units lower than the mean anxiety level for the 26–35 age group (p = 0.029). Also, the mean anxiety level for the 26–35 age group is 2.15 units higher than the mean anxiety level for the 36 + age group (p = 0.016). Conclusions More than half of the respondents reported feeling of depressed, anxious, and stressed. Age, marital status, and the deployment of a peacekeeping operation were all linked to depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively. We recommend educating NCOs on self-coping strategies and implementation of targeted interventions and support systems to address the specific needs of different demographic groups within the military population by the health promotion arm of GAF, ultimately promoting their mental well-being and resilience.