ABSTRACT
The aim of this prospective study was to explore the predictors for the development of PTSD in police officers six months after encountering situations of a potentially traumatic nature. Fifty-nine police officers were studied immediately after the event (T1) and six months later (T2). At T2 PTSD was assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I). PTSD was predicted by intrusions (Impact of Event Scale-Revised; IES-R), the impairment scale (is), global assessment of functioning scale (GAF), gender, age and sense of coherence scale (SOC). The diagnosis of an acute stress disorder (ASD) at T1 had a high specificity for identifying PTSD at T2. The strongest predictor for the development of PTSD was found to be the factor intrusions. Contrary to our expectations, age was not a significant predictive factor for PTSD. Thus, acute stress disorder (ASD) and a high degree of intrusions experienced immediately after a traumatic incident helped to identify early police officers at risk of developing chronic PTSD.
Subject(s)
Police , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosis , Stress Disorders, Traumatic, Acute/diagnosis , Adult , Female , Humans , Life Change Events , Male , Middle Aged , Predictive Value of Tests , Prospective Studies , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales , Sensitivity and Specificity , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/etiology , Stress Disorders, Traumatic, Acute/complications , Time Factors , Young AdultABSTRACT
The aim of this prospective study was to explore the predictors for the development of PTSD in police officers six months after encountering situations of a potentially traumatic nature. Fifty-nine police officers were studied immediately after the event (T1) and six months later (T2). At T2 PTSD was assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I). PTSD was predicted by intrusions (Impact of Event Scale-Revised; IES-R), the impairment scale (is), global assessment of functioning scale (GAF), gender, age and sense of coherence scale (SOC). The diagnosis of an acute stress disorder (ASD) at T1 had a high specificity for identifying PTSD at T2. The strongest predictor for the development of PTSD was found to be the factor intrusions. Contrary to our expectations, age was not a significant predictive factor for PTSD. Thus, acute stress disorder (ASD) and a high degree of intrusions experienced immediately after a traumatic incident helped to identify early police officers at risk of developing chronic PTSD (AU)
Este estudio prospectivo pretendía determinar las predicciones del trastorno por estrés postraumático (TEPT) para agentes de policía pasados seis meses de un evento potencialmente traumático. Se evaluó a 59 agentes de policía directamente después del incidente (T1) y seis meses después (T2). En la segunda fase de evaluación (T2), TEPT se medía mediante entrevista semiestrucurada (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV; SCID-I), esto permitía identificar a los participantes que cumplían con los criterios DSM-IV para el diagnóstico de este trastorno. Además, TEPT se evaluó midiendo las intrusiones (con la Escala revisada del impacto de los eventos; -Impact of Event Scale Revised; IES-R), el deterioro de salud (con la Escala de deterioro -Impairment scale -IS-), la evaluación global del funcionamiento (global assessment of functioning -GAF-), género, edad y escala de coherencia (sense of coherence, - SOC-). Los resultados mostraron que el diagnóstico de trastorno de estrés agudo (en T1) estaba estrechamente relacionado con la identificación posterior del TEPT (en T2). Siendo las intrusiones el mejor predictor. En contra de las expectativas, la edad no fue un buen predictor del TEPT. Asimismo, el desorden de estrés agudo y el alto grado de intrusiones vividas inmediatamente después del incidente traumático ayudaron a la identificación temprana de agentes de policía susceptibles de padecer un TEPT crónico (AU)
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Adult , Middle Aged , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/psychology , Police/organization & administration , Police/standards , Police , Prospective Studies , Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , Sense of CoherenceABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: This prospective study analyzes the coping mechanisms of police officers directly after an event of potential traumatic nature in the line of duty (e. g. use of firearms) as well as 6 months later. METHOD: 59 police officers were contacted by professional crisis intervention teams of the police force. After an extended interview, an ICD-10 diagnosis, if applicable, was assigned. Six months later a diagnosis was derived by a clinician (Diplom-Psychologe) using a structured interview. Coping strategies were accessed by the FKV (Freiburger Fragebogen zur Krankheitsverarbeitung) questionnaire. RESULTS: Fourteen police officers (28%) received the diagnosis of a PTSD (ICD-10: F43.1) at 6 months. The coping mechanisms of the traumatized police officers were significantly elevated in a dysfunctional manner in the areas "emotional control and social retreat" (only directly after the event), "regression", "mistrust and pessimism", and "depressive processing". CONCLUSIONS: Because dysfunctional coping mechanisms impede the decline of the symptoms, it may be considered adequate to strengthen the coping mechanisms for functional coping with these symptoms, thereby focusing on the dysfunctional coping strategy specific to the police force, namely, emotional control.
