Assessing the Biopsychological Consequences of Early Employment and Retirement in Veterans

A law passed by the Islamic consultative assembly as a legislator in the Islamic Republic of Iran to honor the veterans' sacrifice in the imposed war was the Employment Law. This law stipulated that the generally disabled veteran is considered employed without being employed and treat as a salaried employee that receives the same benefits concerning pay and benefits, continuous benefits, as well as salary increases, promotion, and other similar titles, and receive pensions after the certain age. Thus, the current study aimed to examine the biopsychological consequences of early employment and retirement in veterans.

This was a causal–correlational study. The study population included all veterans with employment status in Isfahan City, Iran, in 2019. Of whom, 474 subjects were selected and studied based on Cochran formula and non–probability and random sampling method. They were selected to complete the questionnaire by multistage cluster sampling method and convenience sampling method. The necessary data were collected in theoretical and statistical sections. Initially, the materials were collected with the library approach by studying the sources and taking notes from the documents. To measure the relationship between variables in the survey section to collect the necessary data, a researcher–made questionnaire based on similar research tools were used. This descriptive study was conducted in two phases of design. The first phase addressed tool construction and validation and the second phase respected the application and evaluation of the presented conceptual model. In the first phase, the Content Validity Ratio (CVR) and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient approaches were used to determine the validity and reliability of the measuring instrument. Besides, the exploratory factor analysis method was used to discover the latent dimensions of the study variables. Moreover, in the second phase, statistical analysis was performed based on simple linear regression analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient in SPSS.

Regarding content validity, the answers received from experts concerning each of the instrument questions were calculated based on the CVR formula and adapted to the Lawshe table. The obtained numbers ranged between 0.42 and 0.6. Based on the validity table of Lawshe, the CVR of the judges' opinions was calculated per question to range between 0.42 and 0.6, indicating its acceptable validity. Furthermore, the total coefficient obtained from Cronbach's alpha coefficient was greater than 0.73, signifying the reliability of the measurement tool. The relevant results indicated that the regression coefficients were indicative of benefits due to employment and early retirement on veterans' depression (β=0.621, p<0.001), emotional problems (β=0.484, p<0.001), increased physical illness (β=0.466, p<0.001), mental disorders (β=0.451, p<0.001), and family disputes (β=0.362, p<0.001). Thus, having early employment and retirement provided the greatest effect on depression and the least impact on family disputes among the study participants.

The current research results highlighted the benefits of employment and early retirement on veterans' depression, mental and emotional disorders, family disputes, and increased physical illnesses. Thus, having early employment and retirement presented the greatest effect on depression and the least impact on family disputes among the study subjects.