Risk factors of posttraumatic stress disorder within emergency medical service personnel

The current study examined the relationship between risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel. It was hypothesized that EMS workers who were female; older; single; had less social support; reported more life stressors, depression, peritraumatic dissociation, history of trauma, negative cognitions; and experienced more life-threatening critical incidents would report a greater number of PTSD symptoms.;The participants completed the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI), the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire (PDEQ), the Traumatic Events Questionnaire (TEQ), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the Life Experiences Survey (LES), and a researcher-created EMS Demographic Questionnaire. To access predictor variables related to PTSD, all eight predictor variables were entered into a multiple regression in their continuous form. The criterion variable was the participants' score on the PCL-C. Preliminary Pearson product-moment correlations revealed that six of the eight predictor variables yielded statistically significant correlations with the PCL-C total score. Overall, these eight predictor variables were able to account for 64% of the variability in PTSD (adjusted R2 = .64, p < .001). Upon further examination, depression, traumatic events, negative cognitions, and sex all significantly contributed to the regression equation. The results of this study indicate that this combination of predictor variables is related to PTSD.