Following a critical event resulting in loss of life, members of emergency service organizations are frequently required to participate in postmortem inquiries that seek to understand the cause of the tragedy and ensure that such an event does not occur again. Although researchers have become increasingly knowledgeable about the effects of critical events on rescue workers, to date, no studies have focused on the stress and trauma experienced as a result of having one's actions questioned in such a process. This study compares trauma responses in firefighters and paramedics who have been questioned in postmortem inquiries following a critical event in the work-place and those who have not. Involvement in a review was found to be associated with significantly higher traumatic stress and depression symptoms. Those involved in reviews were more likely to have taken mental health stress leave. In addition, both media coverage of the event and the review were significantly associated with depression scores.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alexander, D., & Klein, S. (2001). Ambulance personnel and critical incidents: The impact of accident and emergency work on mental health. British Journal of Psychiatry, 178(1), 76-81.
2.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
3.
Bale, A. (1990). Medicolegal stress at work. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 8, 399-420.
4.
Beaton, R., Murphy, S., Johnson, C., Pike, K., & Corneil, W. (1997). Coping responses and post-traumatic stress symptoms in urban fire fighters and paramedics. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 19(3), 297-313.
5.
Beck, A., & Beamesderfer, A. (1974). Assessment of depression: The Depression Inventory. In P. Pichot (Ed.), Psychological measurements in psychopharmacology (7th ed., pp. 151-169). Paris: Karger, Basel.
6.
Bowman, M. (1999). Individual differences in posttraumatic distress: Problems with the DSM-IV model. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 44, 21-33.
7.
Brown, J., & Campbell, E. (1990). Sources of occupational stress in police. Work & Stress, 4(4), 305-318.
8.
Brunet, R. (1998). BC's only growth industry: Complaints quadruple against aggressive Children and Families Ministry. British Columbia Report, 9(33), 14-17.
9.
Bryant, R., & Harvey, A. (1996). Posttraumatic stress reactions in volunteer firefighters. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9, 51-62.
10.
Burke, R. (1993). Work-family stress, conflict, coping, and burnout in police officers. Stress Medicine, 9, 171-180.
11.
Buunk, B., & Peeters, M. (1994). Stress at work, social support and companionship: Towards an event-contingent recording approach. Work & Stress, 8(2), 177-190.
12.
Carlier, I., Lamberts, R., & Gersons, B. (2000). The dimensionality of trauma: A multidimensional scaling comparison of police officers with and without posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychiatry Research, 97, 29-39.
13.
Coman, G., & Evans, B. (1991). Stressors facing Australian police in the 1990s. Police Studies International Review of Police Development, 14(4), 153-165.
14.
Cutrona, C., & Russell, D. (1987). The provision of social relationships and adaptation to stress. Advances in Personal Relationship, 1, 37-67.
15.
Duttweiler, P. (1984). The Internal Control Index: A newly developed measure of locus of control. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 44, 209-221.
16.
Evans, B., & Coman, G. (1993). General versus specific measures of occupational stress: An Australian police survey. Stress Medicine, 9, 11-20.
17.
Fullerton, C., McCarroll, J., Ursano, R., & Wright, K. (1992). Psychological responses of rescue workers: Fire fighters and trauma. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 62(3) 371-377.
18.
Gibbs, M. (1989). Factors in the victim that mediate between disaster and psychopathology: A review. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2, 489-514.
19.
Gibbs, M., Drummond, J., & Lachenmeyer, J. (1993). Effects of disasters on emergency workers: A review with implications for training and postdisaster interventions. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 8(5), 189-212.
20.
Gist, R., & Woodall, S. (1995). Occupational stress in contemporary fire service. Occupational Medicine, 10(4), 763-787.
21.
Golembiewski, R., & Kim, B. (1990). Burnout in police work: Stressors, strain, and the phase model. Police Studies, 13(2), 74-80.
22.
Hart, P., Wearing, A., & Headey, B. (1995). Police stress and well being: Integrating personality, coping and daily work experiences. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 68, 133-136.
23.
Herrman, J. (1988). Sudden death and the police officer. Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing, 12, 327-332.
24.
Hill, M. (1990). The manifest and latent lessons of child abuse inquiries. British Journal of Social Work, 20, 197-213.
25.
Janik, J. (1992). Addressing cognitive defenses in critical incident stress. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 5, 497-503.
26.
Koehler, C. (1992, June). Lawsuit demands coping skills. American Nurse, p. 33.
27.
Kushner, M., Riggs, D., Foa, E., & Miller, S. (1992). Perceived controllability and the development of posttraumatic stress disorder in crime victims. Behavioral Research and Therapy, 31(1), 105-110.
28.
Lazarus, R. (1966). Psychological stress and the coping process. Toronto, Canada: McGraw-Hill.
29.
Leffler, C., & Dembert, M. (1998). Posttraumatic stress symptoms among U.S. navy divers recovering TWA Flight 800. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, 186(9), 574-577.
30.
Marmar, C., Weiss, D., Metzler, T., Delucchi, K., Best, S., & Wentworth, K. (1999). Longitudinal course and predictors of continuing distress following critical incident exposure in emergency services personnel. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders, 187(1), 15-22.
31.
McCammon, S., Durham, T., Allison, E., & Williamson, J. (1988). Emergency worker's cognitive appraisal and coping with traumatic events. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 1, 353-372.
32.
McDonald, A. (1996). Responding to the results of the Beverly Allitt inquiry. Nursing Times, 10(92), 23-24.
Nurses charged. (2001, November 5). Macleans, p. 16.
35.
Regehr, C., Cadell, S., & Jansen, K. (1999). Perceptions of control and long-term recovery from rape. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 69(1), 110-115.
36.
Regehr, C., Chau, S., Leslie, B., & Howe, P. (2002). Inquiries into the deaths of children: Impacts on child welfare workers and their organizations. Child and Youth Services Review, 24(12), 885-902.
37.
Regehr, C., Hill, J., & Glancy, G. (2000). Individual predictors of traumatic reactions in firefighters. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 188(6), 333-339.
38.
Richardson, A., & Burke, R. (1993). Occupational stress and work satisfaction among Canadian women physicians. Psychological Reports, 72, 811-821.
39.
Sherer, M., & Adams, C. (1983). Construct validation of the Self-Efficacy Scale. Psychological Reports, 53, 899-902.
40.
Sherer, M., Maddux, J., Mercandate, B., Prentice-Dunn, S., Jacobs, B., & Rogers, R. (1982). The Self-Efficacy Scale: Construction and validation. Psychological Reports, 51, 663-671.
41.
Thompson, J. (1993). Psychological impact of body recovery duties. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 86, 628-629.
42.
Weiss, D., Marmar, C., Metzler, T., & Ronfeldt, H. (1995). Predicting symptomatic distress in emergency services personnel. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63(3), 361-368.
43.
Zilberg, N., Weiss, D., & Horowitz, M. (1982). Impact of Event Scale: A cross-validation study and some empirical evidence supporting a conceptual model of stress response syndromes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 50, 407-414.
