Building Mental Fortitude at Sea: A Randomized Controlled Psychological Intervention Study among Indian Merchant Navy Cadets

Abstract

Background: Maritime sector is the economic backbone of global trade. It is well documented that individuals of the seafaring profession face unique environmental, physical and psychosocial stressors which pose serious threats to seafarers’ mental health. Despite this, compared to other domains, limited research exists on how seafarers, and in particular Indian cadets, cope with adversities. This study designed and administered an intervention that strengthens resilience, emotion regulation, and self-efficacy and enhances quality of life (QoL) amongst deep-sea nautical deck cadets.

Materials and methods: Thirty Merchant Navy Cadets who scored low on resilience, emotional regulation, self-efficacy, and quality of life measures were randomly assigned to the experimental group or the control group. Fifteen participants in the intervention group received the offline intervention, consisting of sixteen sessions over four weeks. Fifteen days after the intervention ended, participants were assessed again on all the variables. The Dispositional Resilience Scale-15, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale, and WHOQOL-BREF were used to establish the baseline measures. A three-month follow-up test was also administered to determine whether initial changes were sustained over time.

Results: Repeated-measures one-way ANOVA results showed substantial improvements across all psychological constructs post-intervention (p < .05), and the improved scores were maintained at follow-up, thus implying that the intervention was effective in making the cadets more resilient, helping them learn adaptive emotion regulation strategies, improving their self-efficacy, and enhancing their overall quality of life.

Conclusion: Key psychological variables were significantly improved by the intervention, thus highlighting its effectiveness for the well-being of Merchant Navy cadets.