You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
Prehospital care
Levels of mental health problems among UK emergency ambulance workers
  1. P Bennett1,
  2. Y Williams2,
  3. N Page3,
  4. K Hood4,
  5. M Woollard5
  1. 1Bristol Doctoral Clinical Psychology Training Programme, Universities of Plymouth and Exeter, UK
  2. 2Welsh Ambulance Trust, UK
  3. 3Department of Psychology, Cardiff University, UK
  4. 4Department of General Practice, University of Wales College of Medicine, UK
  5. 5Pre-Hospital Emergency Research Unit, University of Wales College of Medicine
  1. Correspondence to:
 Dr P Bennett
 Bristol Doctoral Clinical Psychology Training Programme, University of the West of England, Canon Kitson Building, St Matthias Campus, Bristol BS16 2JP, UK; Paul2 Bennettuwe.ac.uk

Abstract

This study examined the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety in a sample of emergency ambulance personnel. Of 1029 personnel in one ambulance service mailed a questionnaire, 617 were returned. Among respondents, the overall rate of PTSD was 22%. Levels of PTSD did not differ according to grade, but men had a higher prevalence rate than women (23% compared with 15%). Nearly one in ten reported probable clinical levels of depression, 22% reported probable clinical levels of anxiety based on Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale scores.

  • post-traumatic stress disorder
  • anxiety
  • depression
  • ambulance personnel
  • PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder
  • EMT, emergency medical technician
  • PDS, Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale
  • HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale

https://doi.org/10.1136/emj.2003.005645

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes