Preparing for the Future Pandemic: Impact of Individual and Occupational Factors on Paramedics' Mental Health.
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness · 2024-12-06 · Observational study
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The mental health of paramedics is critical for disaster response in order to provide rapid and effective interventions. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related individual and occupational factors in Turkish paramedics during the eleventh month of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: The "Sociodemographic Information Form," "Life Events Checklist," and "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist" were used to collect data from 440 randomly selected paramedics in this cross-sectional study. RESULTS: The prevalence of PTSD was 59.8% in the 11th month of the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple regression analysis revealed that approximately 25% of the total PTSD score could be independently explained by paramedics' general health situation and sociodemographic characteristics; 27% by crisis management skills, long working hours, a lack of equipment, and intensive work; and 40% by past traumatic experiences due to difficult life events during their professional practice, such as responding to gunshot wounds, becoming a victim of a gunshot attack, or sexual assault (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Integrating a mental health monitoring system into the health and safety program, providing paramedics with supervision and psychological assistance, and engaging them in disaster preparedness planning would be beneficial.
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Tags
Clinician perspective · COVID-19 pandemic · Paramedics & EMTs
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