Hans Jakob Bøe

Independent Researcher · Institute of military psychiatry

Existing scales mainly focus on danger-based threats of death and bodily harm to assess exposure to traumatic events in war zone. However, major provocations and transgression of deeply held values and moral beliefs, as well as witnessing the suffering of others can be as traumatic as fear-inducing danger-based events. This raises the need for scal...

Background Problematic anger, characterized by excessive frequency, intensity, and duration of anger which causes substantial emotional distress and functional interference, poses a marked challenge in military populations. Despite its importance, research on this topic is limited. This study contributes to the literature by exploring problematic a...

Objective: Over the past few decades, there has been a substantial increase of interest worldwide in how trauma can cause posttraumatic changes such as posttraumatic growth (PTG) and posttraumatic depreciation (PTD), and whether there exist gender-specific patterns of such changes. Despite the increase in interest, no studies have yet examined PTG...

High-risk occupations increase one’s chance of being exposed to a potentially traumatic event (PTE). Yet, similar to many occupations, those in high-risk occupations are also exposed to other less impactful common daily stressors like work overload. Previous research suggests that, although these two types of stressors are often examined independen...

Research on posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) typically focuses on diagnosis or symptom severity, however, this overlooks the variety of symptom patterns that exist. Latent profile analysis was used to explore PTSS profiles in a sample of Norwegian Afghanistan veterans (n = 4052, 91.7% males). Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conduc...

Experiencing sexual harassment and bullying during military service can lead to negative consequences for a soldier’s mental health and life satisfaction, including increased risk of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress. No studies have to date investigated the prevalence and correlates of sexual harassment and bullying among Norwegian Afg...

Background: The peacekeeper role is different to that of traditional combat, however, peacekeepers, like combat soldiers, may also be exposed to high levels of dangerous and/or potentially morally injurious events (PMIEs). Objective: It was hypothesized that given the centrality of societal approval for the peacekeeping mission, in addition to the...

Background: Problematic anger, characterized by excessive frequency, intensity, and duration of anger which cause substantial emotional distress and functional interference, poses a marked challenge in military populations. Despite its importance, research on this topic is limited. This study contributes to the literature by exploring problematic a...

Research has sought to identify whether women have an increased risk of developing mental health problems following military trauma compared to men, but the results are mixed. This study examined gender differences in a range of mental health outcomes within three levels of war zone trauma exposure and investigated gender differences in risk and pr...

Using latent profile analyses, the current work investigated levels of adverse childhood experiences, symptoms of anxiety and depression and 3 dimensions of relational promotive factors) to identify resilience profiles in a large general population sample ( N = 161,622, mean age = 53.02; SD = 17.80; 56.1% females). We then used the same method to i...

The current study examined the occurrence of late-onset PTSD in Norwegian peacekeepers over a period of 23 years.

This study investigated the relationship between traumatic experiences during peacekeeping operations in Lebanon (UNIFIL) between 1978 – 1998 and post traumatic growth (PTG), recalled and measured 17-38 years after, in a sample of 11 633 Norwegian military. Specifically, the study investigated how victim traumas (lethal danger) and moral traumas (m...

The purpose of this survey was to map strains, mental and physical health problems and quality of life among Norwegian soldiers who have served in Afghanistan in the period 2001 to 2020. We invited all Norwegian Afghanistan veterans to participate in a digital survey in autumn 2020, and 67, 7% (6220 veterans) chose to participate. A relatively hig...

Introduction: Norwegian military forces participated in the military campaign Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan starting in 2001. Military personnel often show a "healthy soldier effect" in terms of lowered all-cause mortality when compared to the general population. However, military service in conflict areas is associated with an increas...

The first aim of this study of Norwegian veterans was to examine how deployment to international operations relates to a strengthening or weakening of military identities, and whether status dimensions are associated with a change in operational identity. The second aim of this study was to examine whether cohesion and employment status are associa...

This study examined the warzone stressors: killing in combat, experiencing personal threats, or traumatic witnessing during deployment in relation to psychological distress, alcohol consumption and quality of life at long-term follow-up. The study was conducted in two samples of Norwegian veterans who had served in Afghanistan (Study 1, N = 4,053)...

Background The current outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is of unprecedented proportions in several regards. Recent reports suggest that many frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) suffer from mental health problems, including posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Previous studies have identified several key factors associated with short-...

Peacekeeping missions involve experiences that may impact the mental health of participating soldiers. However, research on the long-term mental health consequences of peacekeeping is sparse. The present study aimed to find the prevalence of mental health problems (MHPs), possible MHP predictors, and associations between predictors and MHPs in Norw...

Background: The current outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is of unprecedented proportions in several regards. Recent reports suggest that many frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) suffer from mental health problems, including posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Previous studies have identified several key factors associated with short...

Background: The current outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is of unprecedented proportions in several regards. Recent reports suggest that many frontline healthcare workers (HCWs) suffer from mental health problems, including posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Previous studies have identified several key factors associated with short...

This study explores social support and personal barriers toward disclosing war-related traumatic experiences and how both are associated with veterans’ posttraumatic changes after deployment to Afghanistan. A trauma-exposed sample was selected from Norwegian Afghanistan veterans (N 3,465). Inclusion was based on self-reported exposure to 1 or more...

Objective: This study explores social support and personal barriers towards disclosing war related traumatic experiences, and how the two are associated with veterans’ posttraumatic changes after deployment to Afghanistan. Method: A trauma-exposed sample was selected from Norwegian Afghanistan veterans (N = 3,465). Inclusion was based on self-repo...

This study aimed to find the prevalence and possible predictors of mental health problems (MHP) in Norwegian peacekeepers 27 years after deployment to a UN peacekeeping mission.

We aimed to find the prevalence and possible predictors of mental health problems (MHP) in Norwegian peacekeepers 27 years after deployment to a UN peacekeeping mission.

Objective: This study aimed to explore how exposure to danger-based and non-danger-based stressors may influence personal changes in veterans (N = 4053) after deployment to Afghanistan. Method: Twelve war zone related traumatic events were used to form two stressor categories. The non-danger-based category included two stressor types: Moral Challen...

Objective: The current scientific measures of posttraumatic changes in the wake of major stressors have mostly been unidirectional. This study is an attempt to develop a scale that will capture the continuum of positive to negative psychological changes after trauma. Method: Forty-five statements were presented to a veteran sample (N = 4,053) wi...

Mental healthcare service use and barriers to care in Norwegian Afghanistan veterans Background: This study examines mental healthcare service use and barriers to care in Norwegian Afghanistan veterans. Method: All Norwegian personnel serving in Afghanistan in the period 2001– 2011 were invited to participate. Data were gathered with survey questio...

Background: Deployment of soldiers is associated with considerable rates of mental disorders after redeployment. Aims: The aim of this study was to identity prevalence of probable mental disorders and associated factors among male Norwegian soldiers at a mean of 4 years following deployment to Afghanistan in 2001-2011. Methods: The retrospecti...

Extended functional impairment characterized by sick leave and disability after a single disaster has not been documented before. This prospective, longitudinal, case-control study applied growth mixture modeling to predict trajectories of functional impairment in oil rig workers, survivors (n = 68) and a matched comparison group (n = 84), over 27...

The present study quantitatively reviewed the literature on sudden gains in psychological treatments for anxiety and depression. The authors examined the short- and long-term effects of sudden gains on treatment outcome as well as moderators of these effects. The authors conducted a literature search using PubMed, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library, an...

This study analyzed trajectories of initial stress and long-term mental health after the 1980 North Sea oil rig disaster. A growth-mixture model of the survivors' stress manifestations in the first 8 weeks (Posttraumatic Stress Scale, [PTSS-10]) and general mental health in 1980, 1981, 1985, and 2007 (General Health Questionnaire, [GHQ-20]) was est...

The present study examined long-term mental health outcomes following a major disaster, including the relative risks (RR) of developing psychiatric disorders. Trauma exposure and predisaster vulnerability factors were examined as predictors of chronic psychopathology. Standardized questionnaires measuring psychological distress were completed 5½ mo...

Findings on posttraumatic growth (PTG) and distress have not been consistent. This study examines the relationship in a very long-term perspective. The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory was completed by 46 survivors from a single disaster 27 years posttrauma. Posttraumatic stress was measured by the Impact of Event Scale (IES) immediately after the ev...

The present study aimed at predicting posttraumatic stress 5 and 27 years after the North Sea oil rig disaster. The predictions were based on the initial levels of stress responses and the early recovery as reported in 1980. The Posttraumatic Stress Scale (PTSS) was used at 3 measure points. From 1980, data from 69 survivors were used in latent gro...

The aim of this study was to establish the relative distribution of resilient, remitted, chronic and reactivated posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a population of survivors from a major civilian disaster. Residual PTSD symptoms were explored to identify predictors of future reactivation. Symptoms were measured by the Impact of Event Scale (IE...