<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Emergency medical service (EMS) workers are three times more at risk of mental health problems such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared to the general population, according to a new study.<\/p>\n
The findings showed that each day EMS workers experience a diverse array of occupational stressors — routine work demands, critical incidents involving serious harm or death, and social conflicts.<\/p>\n
"Each additional work demand or critical event that an EMS worker encountered on a given workday was associated with a 5 per cent increase in their PTSD symptom severity levels that day, while each social conflict was associated with a 12 per cent increase in their depression symptom severity levels," said lead researcher Bryce Hruska, Assistant Professor of public health at the Syracuse University in New York, US.<\/p>\n
"Together, these occupational stressors negatively impacted mental health each day that they occurred," Hruska added.<\/p>\n
Exercising, socialising with other people, and finding meaning in a given day’s challenges can help reduce mental health symptoms for EMS workers, revealed the study published by the Journal of Affective Disorders.<\/p>\n
"These activities had a beneficial impact on mental health; each additional recovery activity in which a worker engaged was associated with a 5 per cent decrease in their depression symptom severity levels that day," Hruska said.<\/p>\n
The researchers surveyed EMS workers at American Medical Response in Syracuse, for eight consecutive days in 2019 to better understand their mental health symptoms related to daily occupational stressors.<\/p>\n
EMS workers who looked for lessons to learn from the day’s challenges had a 3 per cent decrease in their daily depression symptoms, the results showed.<\/p>\n
The Covid-19 pandemic has underscored the significant mental health burden experienced by EMS workers.<\/p>\n
Increasing interaction with family, friends and co-workers, recognising conflicts as an opportunity for learning, relaxing after a particularly demanding shift may help in alleviating the stress, the researchers said.<\/p>\n
(IANS)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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