Predicting symptomatic distress in emergency services personnel
Abstract
This study identified predictors of symptomatic distress in emergency services (EMS) personnel exposed to traumatic critical incidents. A replication was performed in 2 groups: 154 EMS workers involved in the 1989 Interstate 880 freeway collapse during the San Francisco Bay area earthquake, and 213 counterparts from the Bay area and from San Diego. Evaluated predictors included exposure, social support, and psychological traits. Replicated analyses showed that levels of symptomatic distress were positively related to the degree of exposure to the critical incident. Level of adjustment was also related to symptomatic distress. After exposure, adjustment, social support, years of experience on the job, and locus of control were controlled, 2 dissociative variables remained strongly predictive of symptomatic response. The study strengthens the literature linking dissociative tendencies and experiences to distress from exposure to traumatic stressors.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
High prevalences of psychological morbidities have been documented in individuals exposed directly or vicariously to life-threatening situations.
“high prevalences of psychological morbidities have been documented in individuals exposed directly or vicariously to life threatening situations [7], [8].”
From Psychosocial and coping responses within the community health care setting towards a national outbreak of an infectious disease (2010) · cites this paper as [7]
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Meta-analysis of risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder in trauma-exposed adults
Brewin, C. R., Andrews, B., & Valentine, J. D. (2000) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.68.5.748 · Cited by 5,243 · see citing works
The Epidemiology of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after Disasters
Galea, S., Nandi, A., & Vlahov, D. (2005) · Epidemiologic Reviews · doi:10.1093/epirev/mxi003 · Cited by 1,287 · see citing works
Berger, W., Coutinho, E. S. F., Figueira, I., Marques-Portella, C., Luz, M. P., Neylan, T. C., Marmar, C. R., & Mendlowicz, M. V. (2012) · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s00127-011-0408-2 · Cited by 712 · see citing works
Self-citationSim, K., Huak Chan, Y., Chong, P. N., Chua, H. C., & Wen Soon, S. (2010) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2009.04.004 · Cited by 414 · see citing works
Predictors of posttraumatic stress in police and other first responders
MARMAR, C. R., McCASLIN, S. E., METZLER, T. J., BEST, S., WEISS, D. S., FAGAN, J., LIBERMAN, A., POLE, N., OTTE, C., YEHUDA, R., et al. (2006) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1196/annals.1364.001 · Cited by 409 · see citing works
Self-citationPrati, G., & Pietrantoni, L. (2010) · Journal of Community Psychology · doi:10.1002/jcop.20371 · Cited by 331 · see citing works
Benight, C. C., & Harper, M. L. (2002) · Journal of Traumatic Stress · doi:10.1023/a:1015295025950 · Cited by 304 · see citing works
Bernat, J. A., Ronfeldt, H. M., Calhoun, K. S., & Arias, I. (1998) · Journal of Traumatic Stress · doi:10.1023/a:1024485130934 · Cited by 283 · see citing works
Self-citationShahrour, G., & Dardas, L. A. (2020) · Journal of Nursing Management · doi:10.1111/jonm.13124 · Cited by 276 · see citing works
Treating posttraumatic stress disorder in first responders: a systematic review
Haugen, P. T., Evces, M., & Weiss, D. S. (2012) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2012.04.001 · Cited by 226 · see citing works
Self-citationAcute stress disorder: A synthesis and critique.
Harvey, A. G., & Bryant, R. A. (2002) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.128.6.886 · Cited by 210 · see citing works
The impact of killing and injuring others on mental health symptoms among police officers
Komarovskaya, I., Maguen, S., McCaslin, S. E., Metzler, T. J., Madan, A., Brown, A. D., Galatzer-Levy, I. R., Henn-Haase, C., & Marmar, C. R. (2011) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.05.004 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Self-citationPosttraumatic stress disorder in police, firefighters, and emergency dispatchers
Klimley, K. E., Van Hasselt, V. B., & Stripling, A. M. (2018) · Aggression and Violent Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.avb.2018.08.005 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Bedard-Gilligan, M., & Zoellner, L. A. (2012) · Memory · doi:10.1080/09658211.2012.655747 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
“The majority of cross-sectional, retrospective studies suggest that peritraumatic dissociation predicts PTSD (Berg, Grieger, & Spira, 2005; Bremner et al., 1992; Hetzel & McCanne, 2005; Marmar et al., 1994; Tichenor, Marmar, Weiss, Metzler, & Ronfeldt, 1996; Weiss et al., 1995).”
Chung, M. C., Dennis, I., Easthope, Y., Werrett, J., & Farmer, S. (2005) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/01.psy.0000155675.56550.5f · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Laposa, J. M., & Rector, N. A. (2012) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2011.12.007 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
The impact of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing on the partners of firefighters
Pfefferbaum, B. (2002) · Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · doi:10.1093/jurban/79.3.364 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Factors Influencing Post-traumatic Stress in Korean Forensic Science Investigators
Yoo, Y.-S., Cho, O.-H., Cha, K.-S., & Boo, Y.-J. (2013) · Asian Nursing Research · doi:10.1016/j.anr.2013.07.002 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
- Authors
- Weiss, D. S., Marmar, C. R., Metzler, T. J., & Ronfeldt, H. M.
- Affiliations
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
- Published
- 1995-06
- Volume
- 63
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 361-368
- ISSN
- 0022-006X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-2117
- OpenAlex
- W2044328309
- Cited by
- 352
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 7.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01mh047382-03)
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH-47382)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Performance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
- Keywords
- emergency services personnel, occupational trauma exposure, dissociation, psychological adjustment, social support, locus of control, Loma Prieta earthquake
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, California, Disasters, Dissociative Disorders, Emergency Medical Technicians, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Occupational Diseases, Risk Factors, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
