Negative psychometric outcomes: Self-report measures and a follow-up telephone survey

To assess the effectiveness of the Koach project, two groups of subjects, comprising the 40 Koach participants and 40 PTSD veterans who served as controls, were examined 1 year before Koach and 9 months afterwards. In addition, the Koach participants were also assessed immediately before and immediately following the project. The self-report measures focused on PTSD symptomatology, post-traumatic intrusion and avoidance, general psychiatric symptomatology, social functioning and perceived self-efficacy in combat. Participation in Koach led to improvement in one area only: perceived self-efficacy in combat. The measures of emotional distress and psychiatric symptomatology indicated that patients treated in Koach fared worse than untreated PTSD controls. In addition, in order to assess the long-term impact of the program, 36 Koach participants were surveyed by phone approximately 2 years after the residential stage of the project. Military functioning, family life, work, and psychiatric symptomatology were assessed. Findings indicate that most of the participants had not returned to their prewar level of functioning.