Posttraumatic Distress and Coping Strategies Among Rescue Workers After an Earthquake

Abstract

Disaster workers are at high risk for developing psychiatric morbidity. This study examined the prevalence rates of psychiatric and posttraumatic distress and the relationship between psychiatric and posttraumatic morbidity and coping strategies among rescue workers following an earthquake in Taiwan on September 21, 1999. Eighty-four male firefighters who had been exposed to earthquake rescue work were assessed 5 months after the event. The Chinese Health Questionnaire (CHQ), the Impact of Event Scale (IES), and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ) were used to assess psychiatric morbidity, posttraumatic morbidity, and coping strategies. The observed prevalence rates were 16.7% and 21.4% for general psychiatric morbidity and posttraumatic morbidity, respectively. Results from multivariate logistic regression indicated that job experience and confrontive coping were significant predictors of psychiatric morbidity, while job experience, distancing, escape-avoidance, and positive reappraisal were significant predictors of posttraumatic morbidity. Rescue workers with longer job experience were at the highest risk for developing psychiatric and posttraumatic distress.

Survey of Quality of Life and Related Risk Factors for a Taiwanese Village Population 3 Years Post-Earthquake

“…Many papers exploring post-earthquake PTSD have been published in the last 5 years [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]; however, the reported prevalence of this dysfunction was assessed from 3 to 20 months after the seismic disturbance, and long-term follow-up results were lacking. One of these reports investigated the incidence of PTSD and MDE 20 months after the 1999 earthquake in Turkey, with © 2006 The Authors Journal compilation © 2006 The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists estimated rates of 39% and 18%, respectively, demonstrated for non-treatment-seeking earthquake survivors [19].…”

“…Posttraumatic stress disorder can be triggered by profoundly traumatic events such as earthquake, and the adaptive dysfunction is strongly associated with the development of all other psychiatric disorders [3,[6][7][8][9]. The reported prevalence range for post-earthquake psychiatric disorders varies widely (1.5-74%) [3][4][5][9][10][11][12], with the female gender predominating [4,5,8,12].…”

Cross-Cultural Assessment of Psychological Trauma and PTSD

“…More culturally validated interview methods are needed in research that correlates ecological measures with individual stress regulation and coping among high-risk groups. Connor, Davidson, and Lee (2003) conducted a large-scale online survey of trauma survivors. They explored the contributions of spirituality, forgiveness, and anger to physical and mental health outcomes, using regression analysis.…”

“…Chang et al (2003) found that 21.4% of male firefighters who were involved in the Chi-Chi earthquake rescue work showed posttraumatic morbidity (CIES ≥ 26) and 16.7% reported generally psychiatry morbidity (CHQ ≥ 4). Predictors for PTSD symptoms were longer job experience, distancing, escape-avoidance, and lack of positive appraisal.…”

Long term health complaints following the Amsterdam Air Disaster in police officers and fire-fighters

“…39 Several studies have shown that rescue workers are at risk for post-traumatic stress disorders. [40][41][42][43][44] Other mental health complaints have also been found, including sleeping problems, 45 and anxiety or depression. 46 47 In contrast, however, several studies have shown that rescue workers may be regarded as a highly resilient group of professionals with regard to the potentially harmful effects of stress.…”