Traumatic stress and ways of coping of community residents exposed to a train disaster.

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to examine the degree of traumatic stress and the coping strategies employed by community residents who lived on both sides of a rail track where a train collision occurred in 1996 in Stafford, UK. The hypothesis was that there would be a high level of traumatic stress and that emotion-focused coping would be the predictor to distress. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional survey with a retrospective design in which 66 community residents, who lived between 30 and 100 feet away from the crash site, were interviewed. The study began approximately 7 months after the disaster. The Impact of Event Scale (IES), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and the Ways of Coping Checklists (WOC) were administered to the residents. RESULTS: On the whole, the results did not entirely support the hypothesis. The residents were found to have experienced some intrusive thoughts and avoidance behaviour but their mean scores were significantly lower than those of standardized samples. Thirty-five per cent scored at 4 or above on the GHQ-28. Traumatic stress was predicted by both emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies. CONCLUSION: Although community residents were not on the train or related to the dead or injured in any way, they could, after being exposed to a train disaster, manifest traumatic stress symptoms which had long-lasting effects. Such traumatic stress was found to be associated with coping strategies of community residents characterized by their efforts to manage or alter the source of stress, and by their efforts to regulate stressful emotions.

Traumatic stress and death anxiety among community residents exposed to an aircraft crash.

This article examined the relationship between traumatic stress and death anxiety among community residents who lived near woodlands in which an aircraft had crashed in Coventry, England. The hypothesis was that there would be a high level of impact of the crash experienced by residents and that the residents would experience psychological distress. It was also hypothesized that the impact of the crash and distress were associated with death anxiety. Eighty-two residents were interviewed for the study. They were asked to complete the Impact of Event Scale, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and the Death Anxiety Scale. The results showed that Coventry residents were found to experience intrusive thoughts and display avoidance behavior. The residents' intrusive thoughts and avoidance behavior were significantly more severe than one group of Horowitz's standardized samples (i.e., the medical students), but not significantly different from another group (i.e., the stress clinic samples). Fifty-seven percent scored at or above the GHQ cutoff point, which meant that they were considered to be psychiatric cases. Community residents scored significantly lower in death anxiety than the standardized high-death anxiety patients but no differently from the standardized control patients. Correlations were found between the impact of the event, psychological distress, and death anxiety.

Describing traumatic responses and distress of community residents directly and indirectly exposed to an aircraft crash.

This study described the traumatic responses and the extent of psychological distress among residents who had been exposed directly or indirectly to an aircraft crash in Coventry, U.K. The direct exposure group consisted of 62 residents who were on the housing estate at the time of the accident and 20 who were not. They were interviewed on their subjective responses to the crash and then asked to fill in two distress measures: the Impact of Event Scale (IES) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). The results showed a contrast between the responses of the two groups at the time of the crash. They also showed that the direct exposure group had a significantly higher score in the IES item of avoidance, the IES total, the GHQ items of somatization, social dysfunction, and the total score than the indirect exposure group had. Associations were then made between subjective responses and distress measures. Stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that for the direct exposure residents, the IES total was predicted by "whether they received professional help" and "whether they were worried about their safety after the crash." The GHQ total of the direct exposure residents was predicted by "anger about what had happened to them." For the indirect exposure residents, the IES total was predicted by "their present feelings when they heard planes flying over." There were no predictions found between responses and the GHQ total.

The relationship between trauma and personality in victims of the Boeing 737-2D6C crash in Coventry.

The aims of this paper were to (a) ascertain the extent of psychological distress and (b) identify the association between personality variables and psychological distress among individuals who had been exposed to an aircraft disaster in Coventry, U.K. Hundreds of people escaped death but were exposed to the impact of the disaster when a Boeing 737-2D6C 7T-VEE crashed into a woodland area on the edge of a large housing estate in Coventry, U.K. in 1994. Eighty-two residents were randomly chosen for interviews in which they were assessed using the Impact of Event Scale, the General Health Questionnaire, and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-R Short Scale (EPQ-R). The results showed that the Coventry residents' scores reached similar levels of intrusion and avoidance compared with standardized samples and the Lockerbie samples. Fifty-two percent reached the GHQ case level score, which was again similar to the Lockerbie residents. The Coventry residents were significantly less extroverted and neurotic than standardized samples. Stepwise multiple regression showed that there were associations between intrusion and neuroticism and intrusion and extroversion, as well as between avoidance and neuroticism.

A follow-up study of mentally disordered offenders after a court diversion scheme: six-month and one-year comparison.

The aim of this study was to investigate offenders' living patterns, quality of life, types of aftercare received and psychological well-being, following their diversion from one court diversion scheme in England. Sixty-five offenders were followed up after six months, 22 of whom were also followed up after one year. Their transient living patterns throughout these two periods were described. Their quality of life was found to be poor in that most did not have an occupation, nor did they receive education, and the life experiences during both periods were lower than that of standardized urban samples. There were no significant changes in their poor life experiences over the two periods. Over 55% of the 22 offenders still contacted their GPs regularly but there was a significant drop in those consulting hospital doctors. Only a small number of offenders had contact with the social services in these two periods and no significant differences were found between them. Their GHQ total scores went above cutoff point and the level of psychiatric conditions was similar in both periods.

Mood and cognition in pregnant workers.

Thirty-eight working women, in their late second trimester or early third trimester of pregnancy, volunteered to fill out the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire and the UWIST Mood Adjective Checklist. In addition they provided information on the number of children they already had, the nature of their employment and their education level. The latter information was used to select a match for each pregnant worker from a larger sample of non-pregnant female workers. The results revealed no differences in the level of cognitive failures between the two groups. However, CFQ score was a better predictor of mood in the pregnant subjects, suggesting mood changes may be more closely related to perceived cognitive competency during pregnancy. The implications of this are discussed. With respect to mood sub-scales, non-pregnant workers scored higher on Energetic Arousal than pregnant workers. There were no differences on other mood sub-scales. It is argued that the cognitive efficiency of workers is not compromised by pregnancy but steps should be taken to ensure that work load is adjusted to take account of the self-reported reduced arousal that may arise.

A description of a forensic diversion service in one city in the United Kingdom.

This paper describes some recent research on forensic diversion services and the application of such services in Birmingham, UK. Key components include the diversion scheme in court, diversion at point of arrest, and the remand prison liaison scheme. Various community facilities, such as a specialized bail hostel and landlady schemes to which offenders are possibly referred, are also briefly described. We advocate the need for further research in order to examine the effectiveness of the services in Birmingham.