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Long-Term PTSD Risks in Emergency Medical Technicians Who Responded to the 2016 Taiwan Earthquake: A Six-Month Observational Follow-Up Study

Although several factors associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in disaster rescue workers were identified in previous studies, the results were inconsistent. This study aimed to explore the prognostic factors of PTSD among disaster rescuers using different screening tools. A 6.4 magni...

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Autores principales: Hsiao, Yin Ying, Chang, Wei Hung, Ma, I Chun, Wu, Chen-Long, Chen, Po See, Yang, Yen Kuang, Lin, Chih-Hao
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6950686/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31817877
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16244983
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author Hsiao, Yin Ying
Chang, Wei Hung
Ma, I Chun
Wu, Chen-Long
Chen, Po See
Yang, Yen Kuang
Lin, Chih-Hao
author_facet Hsiao, Yin Ying
Chang, Wei Hung
Ma, I Chun
Wu, Chen-Long
Chen, Po See
Yang, Yen Kuang
Lin, Chih-Hao
author_sort Hsiao, Yin Ying
collection PubMed
description Although several factors associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in disaster rescue workers were identified in previous studies, the results were inconsistent. This study aimed to explore the prognostic factors of PTSD among disaster rescuers using different screening tools. A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck southern Taiwan on February 6, 2016. Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) who responded to the earthquake were recruited. The initial survey was conducted one month after the earthquake using a standardized, self-reported, paper-based questionnaire. After six months, we re-evaluated the EMTs using the same questionnaire that was used in the baseline survey. A total of 38 EMT-paramedics were enrolled in the final analysis. Significant differences in PTSD scores at baseline existed between EMTs with and without certain risk factors. The interaction between survey time and risk factors was not significant, but several risk factors correlated with a nonsignificant improvement in the PTSD score after the 6-month follow-up. Perfectionism personality characteristics and several specific field experiences (managing injured patients, managing dead victims, managing dead victims who were pregnant, managing emotionally distraught families, or guilty feelings during the missions) might affect different subdomains of PTSD symptom improvement. Disaster rescuers should be followed up after their missions, regardless of their age, gender, or previous experience with disaster response. EMTs with certain personality characteristics or who are involved in specific field operations should be carefully monitored during and after disaster rescue missions.
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spelling pubmed-69506862020-01-16 Long-Term PTSD Risks in Emergency Medical Technicians Who Responded to the 2016 Taiwan Earthquake: A Six-Month Observational Follow-Up Study Hsiao, Yin Ying Chang, Wei Hung Ma, I Chun Wu, Chen-Long Chen, Po See Yang, Yen Kuang Lin, Chih-Hao Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Although several factors associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in disaster rescue workers were identified in previous studies, the results were inconsistent. This study aimed to explore the prognostic factors of PTSD among disaster rescuers using different screening tools. A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck southern Taiwan on February 6, 2016. Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) who responded to the earthquake were recruited. The initial survey was conducted one month after the earthquake using a standardized, self-reported, paper-based questionnaire. After six months, we re-evaluated the EMTs using the same questionnaire that was used in the baseline survey. A total of 38 EMT-paramedics were enrolled in the final analysis. Significant differences in PTSD scores at baseline existed between EMTs with and without certain risk factors. The interaction between survey time and risk factors was not significant, but several risk factors correlated with a nonsignificant improvement in the PTSD score after the 6-month follow-up. Perfectionism personality characteristics and several specific field experiences (managing injured patients, managing dead victims, managing dead victims who were pregnant, managing emotionally distraught families, or guilty feelings during the missions) might affect different subdomains of PTSD symptom improvement. Disaster rescuers should be followed up after their missions, regardless of their age, gender, or previous experience with disaster response. EMTs with certain personality characteristics or who are involved in specific field operations should be carefully monitored during and after disaster rescue missions. MDPI 2019-12-07 2019-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6950686/ /pubmed/31817877 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16244983 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Hsiao, Yin Ying
Chang, Wei Hung
Ma, I Chun
Wu, Chen-Long
Chen, Po See
Yang, Yen Kuang
Lin, Chih-Hao
Long-Term PTSD Risks in Emergency Medical Technicians Who Responded to the 2016 Taiwan Earthquake: A Six-Month Observational Follow-Up Study
title Long-Term PTSD Risks in Emergency Medical Technicians Who Responded to the 2016 Taiwan Earthquake: A Six-Month Observational Follow-Up Study
title_full Long-Term PTSD Risks in Emergency Medical Technicians Who Responded to the 2016 Taiwan Earthquake: A Six-Month Observational Follow-Up Study
title_fullStr Long-Term PTSD Risks in Emergency Medical Technicians Who Responded to the 2016 Taiwan Earthquake: A Six-Month Observational Follow-Up Study
title_full_unstemmed Long-Term PTSD Risks in Emergency Medical Technicians Who Responded to the 2016 Taiwan Earthquake: A Six-Month Observational Follow-Up Study
title_short Long-Term PTSD Risks in Emergency Medical Technicians Who Responded to the 2016 Taiwan Earthquake: A Six-Month Observational Follow-Up Study
title_sort long-term ptsd risks in emergency medical technicians who responded to the 2016 taiwan earthquake: a six-month observational follow-up study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6950686/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31817877
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16244983
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