Abstract
BackgroundDisaster workers suffer from psychological distress not only through the direct experience of traumatic situations but also through the indirect process of aiding disaster victims. This distress, called secondary traumatic stress, is linked to dispositional empathy, which is the tendency for individuals to imagine and experience the feelings and experiences of others. However, the association between secondary traumatic stress and dispositional empathy remains understudied.MethodsTo examine the relationship between dispositional empathy and mental health among disaster workers, we collected data from 227 Japan Ground Self-Defense Force personnel who engaged in international disaster relief activities in the Philippines following Typhoon Yolanda in 2013. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale were used to evaluate posttraumatic stress responses (PTSR) and general psychological distress (GPD), respectively. Dispositional empathy was evaluated through the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, which consists of four subscales: Perspective Taking, Fantasy, Empathic Concern, and Personal Distress. Hierarchial linear regression analyses were performed to identify the variables related to PTSR and GPD.ResultsHigh PTSR was significantly associated with high Fantasy (identification tendency, β = 0.21, p < .01), high Personal Distress (the self-oriented emotional disposition of empathy, β = 0.18, p < .05), and no experience of disaster relief activities (β = 0.15, p < .05). High GPD was associated with high Personal Distress (β = 0.28, p < .001), marital status (married, β = 0.22, p < .01), being female (β = 0.18, p < .01), medical unit (β = 0.18, p < .05), and no experience of disaster relief activities (β = 0.13, p < .05).ConclusionsAmong Japanese uniformed disaster workers, high PTSR was associated with two subtypes of dispositional empathy: the self-oriented emotional disposition of empathy and high identification tendency, whereas high GPD was associated with high identification tendency. Educational interventions that aim to mitigate these tendencies might be able to relieve the psychological distress of disaster workers.
Highlights
Disaster workers suffer from psychological distress through the direct experience of traumatic situations and through the indirect process of aiding disaster victims
To expand the theoretical and professional knowledge regarding secondary traumatic stress in the field of traumatic stress, we examined the relationships between dispositional empathy and mental health among Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) personnel who were deployed on a humanitarian mission in response to the disaster of Typhoon Yolanda in 2013
Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) showed a significant correlation with three Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) subscales: Personal Distress (PD) (r = .35, p < .001), FS (r = .23, p < .001), and Empathic Concern (EC) (r = .18, p < .01)
Summary
Disaster workers suffer from psychological distress through the direct experience of traumatic situations and through the indirect process of aiding disaster victims This distress, called secondary traumatic stress, is linked to dispositional empathy, which is the tendency for individuals to imagine and experience the feelings and experiences of others. Disasters result in mental health distress among survivors and among disaster workers [3, 4] These individuals have the burden of rescuing lives in disaster-stricken sites fraught with life-threatening danger. In addition to such direct traumatic stresses, disaster workers can experience indirect psychological effects of aiding disaster victims, which is defined as secondary traumatic stress [5]. Minimization of excessive empathy and identification with victims is recommended to prevent traumatic stress [8, 15,16,17], which is supported by two empirical studies [15, 17]
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