Frequency and Type of Exposure to Secondary Trauma and Incidence of Posttraumatic Stress in Medical Examiner Personnel

Details

• Personal Author:
  Brondolo E ; Delahanty D ; Eftekharzadeh P ; Murani K
• Description:
  There are a variety of occupations in which employees may be exposed to secondary traumatization (ST) because they are required to assist individuals exposed to traumatic events and who are experiencing high levels of distress. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between type and level of exposure to ST and symptoms of PTSD and depression in employees of medical examiner (ME) offices. ME offices are responsible for the determination of the cause and manner of death and the identification of victims. Employees working in ME offices vary in the types and frequency of exposure to potentially traumatic events (Brondolo, Wellington, Brondolo, Brondolo, & Delahanty, 2012). Participants included 236 employees of ME offices in 6 states (151 women). The sample included 35 pathologists, 61 medico-legal death investigators, 40 autopsy technicians, 15 managers, 39 clerical workers, and 29 laboratory or research workers and 17 other employees. We examined rates of exposure to 9 categories of events: infant accidental death, infant homicide, child homicide, multiple fatality events affecting the same family, other multiple fatality events, death of an individual known to the participant, death of an individual in custody, deaths in which the remains reveal the victim was suffering, dismembered remains, and fire-damaged remains. Controlling for age, gender and education level, the frequency of encountering 7 of the 9 types of incidents were significantly associated with scores on the Post-traumatic Stress Disorders Diagnostic (PSD) scale(rs range from .16 (child homicide) to .27 (accidental dismemberment), all ps < .05). There were significant relationships between the frequency of exposure to ST and PSD scores for most personnel categories, but the type of incident varied. The results suggest that the frequency of exposure is a significant risk factor for the development of PSD symptoms in employees exposed to secondary trauma. Additional training and workload analyses may be needed to reduce the risks. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Health Personnel Mental Health Nervous System Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  Job Stress Medical Personnel Mental Health Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Psychological Responses PTSD
• Publisher:
  American Psychological Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  California ; New York ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057391
• Citation:
  Work, Stress, and Health 2013: Protecting and Promoting Total Worker Health(TM), The 10th International Conference on Occupational Stress and Health, May 16-19, 2013, Los Angeles, California. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2013 May; :1
• Contact Point Address:
  Elizabeth Brondolo, Ph.D., Dept. of Psychology, St. John's University, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Jamaica, NY 11439, USA
• Email:
  brondole@stjohns.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• NORA Priority Area:
  Healthcare and Social Assistance
• Performing Organization:
  St. John's University, Queens, New York
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20100901
• Source Full Name:
  Work, Stress, and Health 2013: Protecting and Promoting Total Worker Health(TM), The 10th International Conference on Occupational Stress and Health, May 16-19, 2013, Los Angeles, California
• End Date:
  20130131
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:17737a9cf01b6d66213af1dacefcbae82d4f7d2bb2df0bdf23d980eb22af3ecad4126e4e9133554d80a07983fe42d79d471a6c76e1b10d02f09f7fc56386fe9e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/214751/cdc_214751_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 128.92 KB ]