Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40578887›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2025

Cross-sectional study of the rates of military sexual trauma (MST) and associations with adverse mental health outcomes among UK female ex-service personnel: a study protocol.

Tamara Obradovic, Dominic Murphy, Nicola T Fear, Marie-Louise Sharp

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Tamara ObradovicKing's Centre for Military Health Research, Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, London, UK tamara.obradovic@kcl.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0000-1905-2538
Dominic MurphyKing's Centre for Military Health Research, Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9530-2743
Nicola T FearKing's Centre for Military Health Research, Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5792-2925
Marie-Louise SharpKing's Centre for Military Health Research, Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8516-0166

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionThis study investigates the rates of military sexual trauma (MST) and its associations with adverse mental health among a sample of UK female ex-service personnel who served during the Iraq/Afghanistan eras. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Female ex-service personnel, who participated in the fourth phase (Phase 4) of the King's Centre for Military Health Research (KCMHR) Health and Well-being Cohort Study (2022-2023) and consented to be recontacted for follow-up studies (n=295), are being invited to participate in an online questionnaire between July 2024 and February 2025. The questionnaire contains surveys and questions related to experiences of sexual harassment and sexual assault during and outside of military service, disordered eating and broader female health issues. While the questionnaire relates to several female health topics, this study focuses on the surveys related to experiences of sexual trauma and eating disorders. Sociodemographic variables and some health variables, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex PTSD, common mental disorders, alcohol misuse, physical somatisation and social support, will be extracted from participants' pre-existing data collected in Phase 4 of the KCMHR Cohort Study. Analyses will assess rates of MST, and hierarchical multiple logistic regressions will investigate associated health impacts. Rates and ORs, employing 95% CIs, will be reported. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study has been granted full ethical approval by the King's College London Research Ethics Committee (Ref: HR/DP-23/24-39040). Participants provide informed consent before participating and have access to a signposting booklet containing contact details for a range of support services. A risk protocol is in place, which outlines the procedure to be undertaken if a participant contacts the research team in distress. Findings will form part of a PhD thesis and will be further disseminated through peer-reviewed publication and dissemination with veteran mental health services and charities, and relevant government departments.

Indexed as

Mental DisordersMental HealthMilitary PersonnelSex OffensesSexual TraumaAdultAfghan Campaign 2001-Cross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansIraq War, 2003-2011Military Sexual TraumaResearch DesignSexual HarassmentStress Disorders, Post-TraumaticSurveys and QuestionnairesAdult psychiatryAnxiety disordersEating disordersOccupational StressPsychological StressSubstance misuse

Identifiers

PMID40578887
PMCPMC12207112

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.