ArticleLancet (London, England)2011
Effectiveness of battlefield-ethics training during combat deployment: a programme assessment.
Article in Lancet (London, England), 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Meta-analytic Comparison of Face-to-Face and Online Delivery in Ethics Instruction: The Case for a Hybrid Approach.Science and engineering ethics · 2017Pooled it
- Toward a framework of moral challenges in military operations: implications for psychological resilience.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Scenario-based supported interventions for moral injury and posttraumatic stress disorder: Data report of film and television references for use with uniformed professionals.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Compromised Conscience: A Scoping Review of Moral Injury Among Firefighters, Paramedics, and Police Officers.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Medical Ethics in Extreme and Austere Environments.HEC forum : an interdisciplinary journal on hospitals' ethical and legal issues · 2020Article
- Confronting Co-workers: Role Models, Attitudes, Expectations, and Perceived Behavioral Control as Predictors of Employee Voice in the Military.Frontiers in psychology · 2018Article
- Review of Instructional Approaches in Ethics Education.Science and engineering ethics · 2017Review
- Posttraumatic stress disorder post Iraq and Afghanistan: prevalence among military subgroups.Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2014Review
- Battlefield ethics training: integrating ethical scenarios in high-intensity military field exercises.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBreakdowns in the ethical conduct of soldiers towards non-combatants on the battlefield are of grave concern in war. Evidence-based training approaches to prevent unethical conduct are scarce. We assessed the effectiveness of battlefield-ethics training and factors associated with unethical battlefield conduct.
methodsThe training package, based on movie vignettes and leader-led discussions, was administered 7 to 8 months into a 15-month high-intensity combat deployment in Iraq, between Dec 11, 2007, and Jan 30, 2008. Soldiers from an infantry brigade combat team (total population about 3500) were randomly selected, on the basis of company and the last four digits of each soldier's social security number, and invited to complete an anonymous survey 3 months after completion of the training. Reports of unethical behaviour and attitudes in this sample were compared with a randomly selected pre-training sample from the same brigade. The response patterns for ethical behaviour and reporting of ethical violations were analysed with chi-square analyses. We developed two logistic regression models using self-reported unethical behaviours as dependent variables. Factors associated with unethical conduct, including combat experiences and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), were assessed with validated scales.
findingsOf 500 randomly selected soldiers 421 agreed to participate in the anonymous post-training survey. A total of 397 soldiers of the same brigade completed the pre-training survey. Training was associated with significantly lower rates of unethical conduct of soldiers and greater willingness to report and address misconduct than in those before training. For example, reports of unnecessary damage or destruction of private property decreased from 13·6% (54 of 397; 95% CI 10·2-17·0) before training to 5·0% (21 of 421; 2·9-7·1) after training (percent difference -63·2%; p<0·0001), and willingness to report a unit member for mistreatment of a non-combatant increased from 36·0% (143 of 397; 31·3-40·7) to 58·9% (248 of 421; 54·2-63·6; percent difference 63·6; p<0·0001). Nearly all participants (410 [97%]) reported that training made it clear how to respond towards non-combatants. Combat frequency and intensity was the strongest predictor of unethical behaviour; PTSD was not a significant predictor of unethical behaviour after controlling for combat experiences.
interpretationLeader-led battlefield ethics training positively influenced soldiers' understanding of how to interact with and treat non-combatants, and reduced reports of ethical misconduct. Unethical battlefield conduct was associated with high-intensity combat but not with PTSD.
fundingNone.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.