Gender Differences in Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms After a Disaster: A Differential Item Functioning Analysis of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised

Author(s):  
Jennifer M. First ◽  
Wes Bonifay ◽  
J. Brian Houston
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 267-273
Author(s):  
Ewelina Chrapek ◽  
◽  
Agnieszka Gmitrowicz ◽  

In the recent years, there has been a remarkable progress in treatment of cancer in children. Nevertheless, it still remains a disease that represents a real threat to a child’s life. This threat as well as a deep fear for a child’s life which is strongly associated with it have a key impact on psychological difficulties experienced by parents at the time of establishing their child’s diagnosis and throughout therapy. Aim: The study was focused on assessment of the dynamics of posttraumatic symptoms intensity in parents of children suffering from blood cancers depending on a period of time that passed since the moment the disease was diagnosed. Materials and methods: A prospective study model was applied – the parents were assessed at three time points, i.e. up to one month (t1), six months (t2) and one year (t3) following their child’s diagnosis. The study included 47 parents of children diagnosed with leukaemia or lymphoma. The number of the subjects taking part in successive measurements was 32 (t2) and 31 (t3), respectively. The Impact of Event Scale – Revised (IES-R) was used to assess severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms in the parents. Results: Severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms in the parents decreased within one year following their child’s diagnosis. An analysis of intensity of particular dimensions of posttraumatic stress at the successive time points revealed their variability. The level of symptoms related to avoidance did not decrease significantly in the period between one and six months following the diagnosis, or between six months and one year following the diagnosis. Conclusions: The study results provide grounds for putting forward of recommendations concerning diagnostic and therapeutic measures. At the time of diagnosis, parents should be provided with special psychological intervention, whereas, at next stages of a child’s treatment, therapists should focus their attention mostly on avoidance symptoms and the role they play in the process of parents’ adaptation to their child’s illness.


2005 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauleen Bennett ◽  
Vanessa Rohlf

AbstractThis study explored possible identification of Perpetration-induced Traumatic Stress (PITS) in workers whose occupations required euthanizing nonhuman animals and determining whether event or person-related factors influenced symptoms. The sample included 148 animal workers: veterinarians, veterinary nurses, and research and animal shelter staff. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) assessed traumatic stress. Experimenters constructed additional scales measuring satisfaction with social support, participation in various types of training, and concern over animal death. More than 70% of participants reported affinity toward animals had strongly influenced their occupation selection. Half the sample perceived animal death—particularly euthanasia—as one of the least desirable jobs. Of the sample, 11% reported experiencing moderate levels of traumatic symptoms. The study found lower levels of euthanasia-related stress were associated with increased satisfaction with social support and length of time working with animals. Those who reported high levels of concern about animal death reported higher levels of euthanasia-related stress. The study found occupational context was not associated with different levels of euthanasia-related stress symptoms—even though reasons for administering euthanasia differed significantly between occupations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (12) ◽  
pp. 1168-1172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Bevilacqua ◽  
Francesco Morini ◽  
Antonio Zaccara ◽  
Chiara De Marchis ◽  
Annabella Braguglia ◽  
...  

Objective The objective of this study was to assess the presence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in parental couples of newborn requiring early surgery at 6 and 12 months after birth. Study Design A longitudinal study was set up from January 2014 to June 2015. As a measure of PTSD, we used the Italian version of the Impact of Event Scale—Revised (IES-R). Results Thirty-four couples form the object of the study. At 6 months, half of mothers (52.9%) and fathers (44.1%) reported traumatic stress symptoms above the clinical cutoff. Percentages remained stable at 12 months. When parental gender and length of follow-up were compared with two-factor analysis of variance, none had an impact on IES-R score, nor an interaction between these factors was found. A significant correlation of IES-R total score was present within the couple both at 6 and 12 months (6 months—r: 0.6842, p < 0.0001 and 12 months—r: 0.4045, p = 0.0177). Conclusion Having a child with a repaired malformation represents a complex prolonged stressful situation with persistent burden for both parents who are at high risk of developing PTSD symptoms.


2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 534-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Wallen ◽  
Wendy Chaboyer ◽  
Lukman Thalib ◽  
Debra K. Creedy

Background Admission to intensive care is often a sudden and unexpected event precipitated by a life-threatening condition, 2 determinants thought to influence the development of posttraumatic stress disorder. Objectives To identify the frequency of acute symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and to describe factors predictive of these symptoms in patients 1 month after discharge from intensive care. Methods In this prospective cohort study, all patients meeting the inclusion criteria during the study period were invited to participate. Participants completed the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, and demographic and clinical data were accessed from an intensive care unit database. Results During a 9-month period, 114 of 137 patients who met the inclusion criteria consented to participate in the study, and 100 (88%) completed it. The mean total score on the Impact of Event Scale-Revised was 17.8 (SD, 13.4; possible range, 0–88). A total of 13 participants (13%) scored higher than the cutoff score for clinical posttraumatic stress disorder. Neither sex nor length of stay was predictive of acute symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. In multivariate analysis, the only independent predictor of symptoms was age. Patients younger than 65 years were 5.6 times (95% confidence interval, 1.17–26.89) more likely than those 65 years and older to report symptoms. Conclusion The rate of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder 1 month after discharge from intensive care was relatively low. Consistent with findings of previous research, being younger than 65 years was the only independent predictor of symptoms.


2013 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Saccinto ◽  
Lola Vallès ◽  
Ed Hilterman ◽  
Malin Roiha ◽  
Luca Pietrantoni ◽  
...  

AbstractThis study investigates if perceived self-efficacy during an emergency situation has a protective role in the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms among Italian and Spanish survivors of several emergency situations. We explored the impact of self-efficacy in a multiple regression model including other predictors of posttraumatic stress symptoms, such as emergency prevention knowledge; trust in emergency services; risk perception of becoming a victim of an emergency situation; and conscious and active behaviors in comparison with no conscious and no active behavior during the emergency. We carried out a retrospective study recruiting 214 participants who reported their experience as victims of one specific emergency event. Results showed that survivors who perceived themselves as more self-efficacious during the traumatic event had less posttraumatic stress symptoms. In contrast, female gender, more self-threat perception and higher trauma severity were associated with more symptoms. Findings contribute to better understand human behavior in emergency situations and evidence the protective role of perceived self-efficacy beliefs among survivors of emergency situations.


2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052092631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucybel Mendez ◽  
Michaela M. Mozley ◽  
Patricia K. Kerig

According to the race-based traumatic stress model, racial discrimination is proposed to comprise a traumatic experience that results in posttraumatic stress symptoms, as well as internalizing and externalizing problems among youth. Accordingly, a significant body of research has emerged that supports the associations among these constructs. However, the majority of these empirical studies have not accounted for the potential role of traditionally defined traumatic events in these associations. This study investigated whether self-reported racial discrimination was related to posttraumatic stress symptoms, internalizing, and externalizing symptoms above and beyond the impact of other trauma exposures in a sample of 266 detained youth (79% boys, 60% identified as an ethnic minority). Results of hierarchical linear regressions demonstrated that, after accounting for youths’ other trauma exposures, racial discrimination accounted for significant variance in the models predicting delinquency and risk-taking but no other externalizing and internalizing problems, or posttraumatic stress symptoms. These findings indicate that racial discrimination may be particularly important for understanding offending behavior among detained youth.


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