Abstract
This cross-sectional study examines the prevalence of mental health disorders and substance use among professional staff members at community social service agencies 1 year after a mass shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Highlights
The past 3 years have seen a record number of mass shootings that have long-lasting consequences for survivors, victims’ families, and those who address the aftermath of the shooting.[1,2] There is increased awareness of the prevalence and persistence of traumatic stress for first responders and health care professionals responding to mass casualty events.[3,4] Typically, secondary or vicarious trauma is assessed with practitioners working directly with people experiencing a traumatic event.[5]
Mental health measures included screens for depression, suicidal ideation, generalized anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, alcohol misuse, marijuana use, and drug use for nonmedical reasons
A 1-sided Pearson χ2 test was used to test primary work role differences in reports of positive screens, and statistical significance was set at P
Summary
The past 3 years have seen a record number of mass shootings that have long-lasting consequences for survivors, victims’ families, and those who address the aftermath of the shooting.[1,2] There is increased awareness of the prevalence and persistence of traumatic stress for first responders and health care professionals responding to mass casualty events.[3,4] Typically, secondary or vicarious trauma is assessed with practitioners working directly with people experiencing a traumatic event.[5] There is scant research on the mental health well-being of professional staff at social service agencies embedded in the impacted communities. Staff may provide immediate and ongoing social and educational services either directly or indirectly to families, survivors, and the broader community after a mass casualty event. We describe the prevalence of positive screens for mental health disorders and substance use among employees and examine differences among staff working directly with the community, senior-level administrators, and support staff
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