Cargando…

Post-traumatic stress disorder and its predictors in emergency medical service personnel: a cross-sectional study from Karachi, Pakistan

BACKGROUND: Emergency medical service (EMS) personnel who work to provide emergency medical care at the scene and during transportation are exposed to various kinds of stressors and are particularly susceptible to developing stress-reactions. This study assesses symptoms of post-traumatic stress dis...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kerai, Salima Mansoor, Khan, Uzma Rahim, Islam, Muhammad, Asad, Nargis, Razzak, Junaid, Pasha, Omrana
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5575882/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28851280
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12873-017-0140-7
_version_ 1783260122935459840
author Kerai, Salima Mansoor
Khan, Uzma Rahim
Islam, Muhammad
Asad, Nargis
Razzak, Junaid
Pasha, Omrana
author_facet Kerai, Salima Mansoor
Khan, Uzma Rahim
Islam, Muhammad
Asad, Nargis
Razzak, Junaid
Pasha, Omrana
author_sort Kerai, Salima Mansoor
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Emergency medical service (EMS) personnel who work to provide emergency medical care at the scene and during transportation are exposed to various kinds of stressors and are particularly susceptible to developing stress-reactions. This study assesses symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and its predictors among the personnel of a selected EMS in Karachi, Pakistan. METHODS: Data were gathered from 518 personnel working in an EMS setting from February to May 2014. Participants were screened for post-traumatic stress symptoms using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). Demographic and work-related characteristics, coping styles and the social support systems of the participants were assessed. Linear regression was used on the IES-R to identify predictors of post-traumatic stress symptoms. RESULTS: The mean score of the IES-R was 23.9 ± 12.1. EMS personnel with a dysfunctional coping style (β = 0.67 CI 0.39 – 0.95), anxiety, and depression (β = 0.64 CI 0.52 – 0.75) were more likely to have increased severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Age was found to have an inverse relationship with stress symptoms (β = −0.17 CI 0.33 – -0.023), indicating the susceptibility of younger EMS personnel to stress. CONCLUSION: The EMS personnel in this setting were found to have a moderate level of post-traumatic stress symptoms. The significant predictors of post-traumatic stress symptoms in this EMS population were age, coping style, and levels of anxiety and depression. These predicting factors can be a potential avenue for interventions to improve the mental health of these frontline workers.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5575882
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2017
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-55758822017-08-30 Post-traumatic stress disorder and its predictors in emergency medical service personnel: a cross-sectional study from Karachi, Pakistan Kerai, Salima Mansoor Khan, Uzma Rahim Islam, Muhammad Asad, Nargis Razzak, Junaid Pasha, Omrana BMC Emerg Med Research Article BACKGROUND: Emergency medical service (EMS) personnel who work to provide emergency medical care at the scene and during transportation are exposed to various kinds of stressors and are particularly susceptible to developing stress-reactions. This study assesses symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and its predictors among the personnel of a selected EMS in Karachi, Pakistan. METHODS: Data were gathered from 518 personnel working in an EMS setting from February to May 2014. Participants were screened for post-traumatic stress symptoms using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). Demographic and work-related characteristics, coping styles and the social support systems of the participants were assessed. Linear regression was used on the IES-R to identify predictors of post-traumatic stress symptoms. RESULTS: The mean score of the IES-R was 23.9 ± 12.1. EMS personnel with a dysfunctional coping style (β = 0.67 CI 0.39 – 0.95), anxiety, and depression (β = 0.64 CI 0.52 – 0.75) were more likely to have increased severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Age was found to have an inverse relationship with stress symptoms (β = −0.17 CI 0.33 – -0.023), indicating the susceptibility of younger EMS personnel to stress. CONCLUSION: The EMS personnel in this setting were found to have a moderate level of post-traumatic stress symptoms. The significant predictors of post-traumatic stress symptoms in this EMS population were age, coping style, and levels of anxiety and depression. These predicting factors can be a potential avenue for interventions to improve the mental health of these frontline workers. BioMed Central 2017-08-29 /pmc/articles/PMC5575882/ /pubmed/28851280 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12873-017-0140-7 Text en © The Author(s). 2017 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kerai, Salima Mansoor
Khan, Uzma Rahim
Islam, Muhammad
Asad, Nargis
Razzak, Junaid
Pasha, Omrana
Post-traumatic stress disorder and its predictors in emergency medical service personnel: a cross-sectional study from Karachi, Pakistan
title Post-traumatic stress disorder and its predictors in emergency medical service personnel: a cross-sectional study from Karachi, Pakistan
title_full Post-traumatic stress disorder and its predictors in emergency medical service personnel: a cross-sectional study from Karachi, Pakistan
title_fullStr Post-traumatic stress disorder and its predictors in emergency medical service personnel: a cross-sectional study from Karachi, Pakistan
title_full_unstemmed Post-traumatic stress disorder and its predictors in emergency medical service personnel: a cross-sectional study from Karachi, Pakistan
title_short Post-traumatic stress disorder and its predictors in emergency medical service personnel: a cross-sectional study from Karachi, Pakistan
title_sort post-traumatic stress disorder and its predictors in emergency medical service personnel: a cross-sectional study from karachi, pakistan
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5575882/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28851280
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12873-017-0140-7
work_keys_str_mv AT keraisalimamansoor posttraumaticstressdisorderanditspredictorsinemergencymedicalservicepersonnelacrosssectionalstudyfromkarachipakistan
AT khanuzmarahim posttraumaticstressdisorderanditspredictorsinemergencymedicalservicepersonnelacrosssectionalstudyfromkarachipakistan
AT islammuhammad posttraumaticstressdisorderanditspredictorsinemergencymedicalservicepersonnelacrosssectionalstudyfromkarachipakistan
AT asadnargis posttraumaticstressdisorderanditspredictorsinemergencymedicalservicepersonnelacrosssectionalstudyfromkarachipakistan
AT razzakjunaid posttraumaticstressdisorderanditspredictorsinemergencymedicalservicepersonnelacrosssectionalstudyfromkarachipakistan
AT pashaomrana posttraumaticstressdisorderanditspredictorsinemergencymedicalservicepersonnelacrosssectionalstudyfromkarachipakistan