130 6 CHAPTER 6 e-mail and a letter. Reminders were sent after 3 and 5 weeks. It was made clear that the responses to the questionnaire would be anonymous. Measures Demographics and work variables Gender, age, marital status, education-level, type of work (combat units vs. combat support units) military department, rank, and years of service were assessed. Additionally, work demands were assessed, using a single item (I think my work pressure is…) on a 5-point scale, ranging from ‘way too low’ to ‘way too high’. This item was taken from the Questionnaire on the Experience and Evaluation of Work (QEEW) (36). Mental illness Current MI To assess current MI, the following measures were used; (a) Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (37), (b) ASSIST-LITE for substance abuse (38), (c) AUDIT-C, for alcohol abuse (39), and (d) PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (40). For psychometric properties and cut-off scores, see appendix A. The results of these questionnaires were only used for background information, not for the inclusion of participants in the current study. Self-reported MI Personnel were asked whether they have (had) MI. Only those who reported having (had) MI were included in the current study. If personnel reported having (had) MI, they received a list of 15 possible types of MI (see appendix B) and were asked to indicate whether it concerned current or past MI, in line with earlier research (17, 34, 41). In case the MI was in the past, they were asked the number of months since the MI ended. Additionally, they were asked whether the MI was work-related (yes/no) and to rate the severity of their symptoms (during the worst time) on a scale of 0 –10. (Non-)Disclosure decisions, general experiences and specific experiences Actual disclosure decision Personnel were asked whether they had disclosed their MI to their supervisor themselves (yes/no). General disclosure experience Personnel were asked what their general experience was with their (non)-disclosure decision (very negative/negative/positive/very positive). No neutral response was provided and for the analyses very negative and negative were combined, and positive and very positive were combined. This was done to be able to make a comparison between those with a negative and positive experience.
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