Posttraumatic stress disorder among professional and non-professional rescuers involved in an earthquake in Taiwan

This study investigated the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among professional and non-professional rescue workers involved in the 1999 Chi-Chi Earthquake in Taiwan. One month following the disaster, 252 rescue workers (167 professional rescue workers, 85 non-professional voluntee...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychiatry research 2004-06, Vol.127 (1), p.35-41
Main Authors: Guo, Ya-Jun, Chen, Chin-Hung, Lu, Mong-Liang, Tan, Happy Kuy-Lok, Lee, Huei-Wen, Wang, Tsu-Nai
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Anxiety disorders. Neuroses
Arousal
Biological and medical sciences
Demography
Disasters
Earthquake
Female
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Posttraumatic stress disorder
Prevalence
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Rescue Work - statistics & numerical data
Rescuer
Stress
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - epidemiology
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - ethnology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Taiwan
Tropical medicine
Volunteers - statistics & numerical data
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Summary:This study investigated the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among professional and non-professional rescue workers involved in the 1999 Chi-Chi Earthquake in Taiwan. One month following the disaster, 252 rescue workers (167 professional rescue workers, 85 non-professional volunteers) were surveyed with the Chinese version of the Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS-C) and the Chinese version of the SPAN (SPAN-C). Non-professional rescuers had significantly higher scores than professional rescuers on both the DTS-C and the SPAN-C. The prevalences of PTSD, as defined by a DTS-C score ≥44, among professional and non-professional rescuers were 19.8% and 31.8%, respectively. Among the three subscales of the DTS-C, only scores on the numbness/avoidance subscale were significantly higher in the non-professional than in the professional rescue workers. The results of this study suggest that disaster rescue work is associated with a high level of stress even for highly trained professionals and may lead to mental health problems.
ISSN:0165-1781
1872-7123
DOI:10.1016/j.psychres.2004.03.009