Trauma Exposure and Hopelessness as Predictors of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Depression among War Veterans in SouthEast Nigeria

The study investigated trauma exposure and hopelessness as predictors of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression among war veterans in South-Eastern Nigeria.The research design used the ex post facto method purposively for a sample of 470 retired military veterans who were involved in a conflict at different times.The sample consisted of 240 men and 230 females who responded to four standardized instruments.The sample for the study was determined through Taro Yamen's statistical method for a multinomial or heterogeneous population.The results show that exposure to trauma significantly predicted PTSD among military veterans in Southeast Nigeria (F (1,468) =38.88;P<0.01).However, trauma exposure did not significantly predict the development of depression disorder among veterans in Southeast Nigeria (F (1,468) =0.302; P=0.583).Hopelessness was found to be a statistically significant predictor of PTSD (F (1,468) =10.87;P<0.01).However, it did not significantly predict the development of depression disorder among veterans (F (1,468) =0.239; P=0.625) with R=0.023 and R 2 =0.001.The findings generally support most of the empirical evidence available in the literature.Based on the results of the study, the military organization and the Nigerian government must implement a strategic healthcare initiative to build military veteran rehabilitation health centers in each state.In these centers, both those serving in the military and retired veterans would be able to access routine psychological evaluation and treatment to ensure that they are in a good state of health and well-being during and after their engagement on the battlefield.