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Behavioral Health Leadership: New Directions in Occupational Mental Health

  • Military Mental Health (CH Warner, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

The impact of stress on mental health in high-risk occupations may be mitigated by organizational factors such as leadership. Studies have documented the impact of general leadership skills on employee performance and mental health. Other researchers have begun examining specific leadership domains that address relevant organizational outcomes, such as safety climate leadership. One emerging approach focuses on domain-specific leadership behaviors that may moderate the impact of combat deployment on mental health. In a recent study, US soldiers deployed to Afghanistan rated leaders on behaviors promoting management of combat operational stress. When soldiers rated their leaders high on these behaviors, soldiers also reported better mental health and feeling more comfortable with the idea of seeking mental health treatment. These associations held even after controlling for overall leadership ratings. Operational stress leader behaviors also moderated the relationship between combat exposure and soldier health. Domain-specific leadership offers an important step in identifying measures to moderate the impact of high-risk occupations on employee health.

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Acknowledgments

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the U.S. Army Medical Command or the US Army. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Funding was received from the U.S. Army Military Operational Medicine Research Program. The authors report no competing interests. Thanks to Paul Kim for editorial assistance.

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Conflict of Interest

Amy B. Adler, Kristin N. Saboe, James Anderson, Maurice L. Sipos, and Jeffrey L. Thomas declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. US Army Medical Research Unit-Europe, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Sembach, Germany

    Amy B. Adler & Jeffrey L. Thomas

  2. Military Psychiatry Branch, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, MD, USA

    Kristin N. Saboe, James Anderson & Maurice L. Sipos

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  1. Amy B. Adler
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  2. Kristin N. Saboe
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  3. James Anderson
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  4. Maurice L. Sipos
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Correspondence to Amy B. Adler.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Military Mental Health

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Adler, A.B., Saboe, K.N., Anderson, J. et al. Behavioral Health Leadership: New Directions in Occupational Mental Health. Curr Psychiatry Rep 16, 484 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-014-0484-6

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