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Cited by 80Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ResearchMigration, Health and TraumaCOVID-19 and Mental Health

Journalists covering the refugee and migration crisis are affected by moral injury not PTSD

Open access
Feinstein, Anthony, Pavisian, Bennis, Storm, Hannah·2018·JRSM Open
DOI 10.1177/2054270418759010PMC PMC5846940
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Abstract

Objective: To explore the emotional health of journalists covering the migrations of refugees across Europe. Design: Descriptive. A secure website was established and participants were given their unique identifying number and password to access the site. Setting: Newsrooms and in the field. Participants: Responses were received from 80 (70.2%) of 114 journalists from nine news organisations. Main outcome measures: Symptoms of PTSD (Impact of Events Scale-revised), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-Revised) and moral injury (Moral Injury Events Scale-revised). Results: Symptoms of PTSD were not prominent, but those pertaining to moral injury and guilt were. Moral injury was associated with being a parent ( p = .031), working alone ( p = .02), a recent increase in workload ( p = .017), a belief that organisational support is lacking ( p = .046) and poor control over resources needed to report the story ( p = .027). A significant association was found between guilt and moral injury ( p = .01) with guilt more likely to occur in journalists who reported covering the migrant story close to home ( p = .011) and who divulged stepping outside their role as a journalist to assist migrants ( p = .014). Effect sizes ( d) ranged from .47 to .71. Conclusions: On one level, the relatively low scores on conventional psychometric measures of PTSD and depression are reassuring. However, our data confirm that moral injury is a different construct from DSM-defined trauma response syndromes, one that potentially comes with its own set of long-term maladaptive behaviours and adjustment problems.

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Feinstein, A., Pavisian, B., & Storm, H.
Affiliations
Sunnybrook Health Science Centre (CA)
Corresponding author
Feinstein, Anthony
ORCID
Feinstein, Anthony
Venue
JRSM Open
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2018-03
Volume
9
Issue
3
Pages
2054270418759010-2054270418759010
ISSN
2054-2704 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1177/2054270418759010
PMC
PMC5846940
OpenAlex
W2790896788
Cited by
80
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3
FWCI
5.58
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • JRSM Open (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
Keywords
moral injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, journalists, guilt, depression, occupational stress, newsroom work, organizational support

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