PTSD symptoms among police officers: associations with frequency, recency, and types of traumatic events

Details

• Personal Author:
  Andrew, Michael E. ; Burchfiel CM ; Hartley TA ; Sarkisian K ; Violanti JM
• Description:
  Policing necessitates exposure to traumatic, violent and horrific events, which can lead to an increased risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The purpose of this study was to determine whether the frequency, recency, and type of police-specific traumatic events were associated with PTSD symptoms. Participants were 359 police officers from the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress (BCOPS) Study (2004-2009). Traumatic police events were measured using the Police Incident Survey (PIS); PTSD was measured using the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C). Associations between PIS and PTSD symptoms were evaluated using ANCOVA. Contrast statements were used to test for linear trends. Increased frequency of specific types of events were associated with an increase in the PCL-C score in women, particularly women with no history of prior trauma and those who reported having a high workload (p < 0.05). More recent exposure to seeing severely assaulted victims was associated with higher PCL-C scores in men (p < 0.02). In summary, the frequency of several traumatic events was associated with higher PTSD scores in women, while the recency of seeing victims of assault was associated with higher PTSD scores in men. These results may be helpful in developing intervention strategies to reduce the psychological effects following exposure and these strategies may be different for men and women. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Demography Emergency Responders Epidemiology Law Enforcement Men Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Sex Characteristics Stress, Psychological Women

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• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Police Officers Demographic-characteristics Emergency-responders Humans Law-enforcement Law-enforcement-workers Mental-stress Police-officers Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Psychological-stress Sex-factors Statistical-analysis Traumatic Events

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• ISSN:
  1522-4821
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant ; Contract
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  241-254
• Volume:
  15
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20044843
• Citation:
  Int J Emerg Mental Health Hum Resil 2013 Oct-Dec; 15(4):241-254
• Contact Point Address:
  Tara A. Hartley, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Morgantown, WV
• Email:
  THartley@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Performing Organization:
  State University of New York at Buffalo
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20100901
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience
• End Date:
  20150831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:48cad950d10daddbb778f86f66c9a4998c615d5760e7e0ce49e9771b2b52111c09d055735a2b15ec238207126105de2780665e7bf3055353d72e6588437cc484
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/200460/cdc_200460_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 644.62 KB ]