Post-traumatic stress disorder among the staff of a mental health hospital: Prevalence and risk factors

Abstract

BackgroundMental health service providers are frequently exposed to stress and violence in the line of duty. There is a dearth of data concerning the psychological sequelae of the frequent exposure to stress and violence, especially among those who work in resource-limited countries such as Botswana.AimTo determine the prevalence and predictors of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among mental health workers in a tertiary mental health institute in Botswana.SettingThe study was conducted in Sbrana Psychiatric Hospital, which is the only referral psychiatric hospital in Botswana.MethodsThe study used a descriptive cross-sectional design. A total of 201 mental health workers completed a researcher-designed psycho-socio-demographic questionnaire, which included one neuroticism item of the Big Five Inventory, and a PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C), which was used to assess symptoms of PTSD.ResultsMajority of the study participants were general nurses (n = 121, 60.5%) and females (n = 122, 60.7%). Thirty-seven (18.4%) of the participants met the criteria for PTSD. Exposure to violence in the past 12 months (AOR = 3.26; 95% CI: 1.49–7.16) and high neuroticism score (AOR = 2.72; 95% CI: 1.19–6.24) were significantly associated with the diagnosis of PTSD among the participants.ConclusionPost-traumatic stress disorder could result from stressful events encountered in the course of managing patients in mental health institutes and departments. Pre-placement personality evaluation of health workers to be assigned to work in psychiatric units and post-incident trauma counselling of those exposed to violence may be beneficial in reducing the occurrence of PTSD in mental hospital health care workers.

A Systematic Review of Job Demands and Resources Associated with Compassion Fatigue in Mental Health Professionals

“…Although the scale demonstrated adequate internal consistency [ 88 ], its other psychometric properties such as factorial validity and norms remain unestablished in the literature. Studies outside the scope of this review [ 116 , 117 , 118 ] have examined mental health professionals’ traumatic experiences using standardised scales such as PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C) [ 119 ] or PTSD Checklist for DSM–5 (PCL-5) [ 120 ]. No study included in the present review used either of the two checklists or some other standardised scale or questionnaire, thereby compromising the accurate measurement of workplace trauma.…”

Violence and aggression in psychiatric inpatient care in Sweden: a critical incident technique analysis of staff descriptions

“…There is certainly a need for follow-up after incidents, but also for checking whether more support is needed after a week or two. In addition to post-incident trauma counselling, pre-placement personality evaluation of health workers prior to being assigned to psychiatric units may be beneficial [56].…”

“…In the same category were CI descriptions of four cases of sexual harassment, and situations where patients took hostages to get medicine or to get their own way in Serious assault (50) Anxious/aggressive/disruptive patient (38) Death threats, including against family (34) Threats with/possession of any object/weapon (32) Sexual harassment (4) Taking hostages 3Threats/violence against co-patients/relatives (21) Violent acts towards others than staff Self-harm/suicide attempt (15) Staff aggression/violence 3Active defence/intervention (70) Ways the staff responded Ways in which staff dealt with aggressive situations and the eventual outcome Alarm/call for help (56) Call for police/fire brigade (31) Passive defence/de-escalation (30) Patient discharged from the ward 1Mechanical restraint 69Ways in which the incident ended Delimiting/supervising (46) Calming down of patient/ebbing of situation (42) Removal from the ward (35) Enforced medication (31) Anaesthetising/rapid tranquillisation of the patient (5)…”

PTSD and Burnout are Related to Lifetime Mood Spectrum in Emergency Healthcare Operator

“…Previous studies reported PTSD rates up to ten-fold higher among emergency service workers with respect to the general population [ 5 ]. Particularly, PTSD rates range between 10% and 21% among medical doctors and nurses [ 6 , 7 ]. A recent meta-analysis on 18 studies including over 30,000 subjects showed PTSD in 11% of ambulance personnel [ 8 ].…”

“…Different factors were found to predispose health workers to PTSD or burnout. From a socio-demographic perspective, being a young, female, nurse with low professional education levels are considered negative factors [ 2 , 6 , 14 ]. For what concerns organizational work factors, employee reward systems, peer and manager support, besides well-designed organizational structures improve resilience to stressful and traumatic events experienced on duties [ 15 ].…”