Magister Psychologiae - MPsych / It is commonly known that South African society is characterised by high rates of exposure to violence and traumatic events. However, there is a convincing body of knowledge that indicates that a significant proportion of young adults exposed to traumatic events do not develop negative, trauma-related symptoms, but rather adapt in a positive manner

Using nationally representative data from South Africa, we examine lifetime prevalence of traumas and multiple traumas (number of events). Employing multiple regression analysis, the authors study the sociodemographic risk of trauma, and the association between trauma and distress. Results indicate most South Africans experience at least one traumatic event during their lives, with the majority reporting multiple. Consistent variation in risk is evident for gender and marital status, but not other sociodemographics. Trauma is positively related to high distress, and findings also support a cumulative effect of trauma exposure. Individuals with the most traumas (6+) appear at 5 times greater risk of high distress. This study highlights the importance of considering traumatic events in the context of other traumas in South Africa.

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Sammanfattning: Bakgrund: Sjuksköterskor kan konfronteras med traumatiska händelser i sitt dagliga arbete. Dessa händelser kan leda till en fara för sjuksköterskors hälsa i form av posttraumatiskt stressyndrom (PTSD), sekundär traumatisk stress (STS) eller utbrändhet. Hanteringsstrategier är individuella och har en stor betydelse för sjuksköterskors återhämtning. Syfte: Hur påverkas sjuksköterskor av traumatiska händelser och hur hanterar de uppkomna känslor. Metod: En kvalitativ innehållsanalys valdes som metod där 14 bloggar analyserades. Sökningen genomfördes osystematiskt via sökmotorn Google. Analysen resulterade i två kategorier och sju underkategorier. Resultat: Sjuksköterskor kände en fysisk och emotionell utmattning på grund av de traumatiska upplevelserna. Personligheten förändrades. Att stänga av sina känslor eller att frigöra sig från dem var möjliga hanteringsstrategier. En positiv inställning till livet samt acceptans av egna känslor, sammanhållning i team och erfarenhet har bidragit positivt i hanteringsprocessen. Slutsats: Genom att sjuksköterskor upplever traumatiska händelser i sitt arbete är risken för ohälsa stor. Utbrändhet och PTSD kan utvecklas hos sjuksköterskor och påverkar vårdandet negativt. Klinisk betydelse: Studiens resultat kan användas av verksamhetschefer och sjuksköterskor för att öka kunskapen i området. Programansvariga på högskolor kan inkludera studien i utbildningsinnehållet för att även förbereda studenter inför sin kommande praktik. / Summary: Background: Nurses can be confronted with traumatic events in their daily work. These events can lead to danger to nurses' health in the forms of posttraumatic stress syndrom, secondary traumatic stress or burnout. Management strategies are individual and have a significant importance to nurses’ recovery. Purpose: How traumatic incidents affect nurses and how they cope with arising feelings. Method: A qualitative content analysis was chosen as a method where 14 blogs were analyzed. The search was carried out unsystematically through the Google search engine. The analysis resulted in two main categories and seven subcategories. Result: The nurses felt a physical and emotional exhaustion because of their traumatic experiences. The personality changed. Turning off their emotions or to free themselves from them were possible management strategies. A positive attitude to life and acceptance of their own feelings and cohesion in the team has contributed positively in the management process. Conclusion: Traumatic events process a major risk to nurses’ health. They may develop burnout or PTSD that may affect caring negatively. Clinical significance: The research results can be used by business managers and nurses to increase knowledge to the area. Editors in charge in colleges can include this study for educational purposes in order to prepare students for future practice.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

The present exploratory study examined adverse childhood experiences and religiosity in a sample of individuals from Southern Appalachia. Self-reports of childhood adversity and intrinsic religion were obtained from 167 individuals. Results showed that fifty-five percent had not experienced a childhood adversity while forty-three percent had experienced one to five episodes. Although a little under half the sample had one or more adverse experiences, there was no significant relationship between ACEs and intrinsic religion (r= -.037, p= .631). Sex and intrinsic religion were significantly related in that men endorsed the use of intrinsic religiosity more than women (t(165)= -2.28, p= .005).

Background: The development of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS) following a traumatic event is related to significant functional impairment, diminished quality of life, and physical health issues. Yet it is not entirely clear why some traumatized individuals experience negative outcomes while others do not. The purpose of this study is to determine the role of several influential factors related to PTS severity and negative outcomes, such as diminished quality of life and physical health issues, following traumatic events. Method: One hundred and twenty-two trauma-exposed adults were recruited through the University of South Florida’s SONA system and through flyers on campus. Subjects were administered the following self-report measures in a counter-balanced manner: the PTSD Checklist-Civilian, the Trauma History Questionnaire-Short, The Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3, Depression and Anxiety Stress Scale 21, Sheehan Disability Scale, WHOQOL-BREF, and the Economic Impact Questionnaire-Revised. Results: Posttraumatic stress symptom severity was positively correlated with depressive symptom severity, chronicity of the most distressing trauma and number of traumas. Posttraumatic stress symptom severity and anxiety sensitivity were significantly related to all of the outcomes examined including three domains of disability, four domains of quality of life, burden and physical health issues. Main effects were found for PTS severity, anxiety sensitivity, and depressive symptom severity on quality of life domains. Posttraumatic stress symptom severity mediated the relationship between anxiety sensitivity and physical health issues such that the relationship between AS and physical health issues is dependent on PTS severity. Implications: This study helps clarify the role of various factors in the relationship between trauma and negative outcomes. Clinical and research implications are discussed, including early detection of PTS and an increased awareness of the relationship between PTS, anxiety sensitivity and physical health issues.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Introduction: There are high demands on ambulance staff in relation to emergency assessments and treatment measures. In addition to this, staff are constantly exposed to potentially traumatic events. The experience of traumatic events is varied and depends on individual conditions. Aim: The aim of this literature study is to describe the ambulance staff's experiences of traumatic events in their profession. The purpose is also to review how the included articles have been selected. Method: A compilation has been made of ten scientific articles with qualitative, quantitative and mixed method. Systematic searches for articles were made in two different databases as well as manual searches. Result: Ambulance personnel’s experiences of traumatic events are based on mental and practical preparations. Feelings are described depending on the patient's condition, there are emotional differences in caring for children and adults regardless of whether the actions succeed or fail. The relatives' presence can be experienced both as suitable and unsuitable. Internal and external factors affect the experience of caring for the patient depending on circumstances. The need for processing occurs after traumatic events and is practiced in different ways. Care and guilt after an emergency situation is described in terms of different reactions. The need for necessary support is found to manifest itself after a traumatic event. Conclusion: The result shows that there is uncertainty regarding copingstrategies before, during and after traumatic events. Therefore, there is a need to improve working conditions for ambulance staff through future research.

Sleep disturbances and insomnia are prevalent, with around 33% of adults indicating that they experience at least one main symptom of insomnia, and bidirectional relationships exist with common psychopathology, particularly major depressive disorder (MDD). However, genetic and environmental (e.g., traumatic event exposure) contributions to the etiology of these phenotypes are not yet well understood. A genetically informative sample of approximately 12,000 Han Chinese women aged 30-60 (50% with recurrent MDD) was used to address several gaps within the sleep literature. Sleep disturbances were assessed in all individuals using a general item addressing sleeplessness (GS). A sleep within depression sum score (SDS) was also created in MDD cases, combining information from the GS and two insomnia items within MDD. A total of 11 traumatic events were assessed and additional information on childhood sexual abuse (CSA) was also obtained. First, factor analyses were conducted to determine trauma factor structure. The best-fit solution included 3 factors: interpersonal, child interpersonal, and non-assaultive, and composite variables were constructed accordingly. A series of hierarchical regressions were run to examine differential effects of trauma type and timing on sleeplessness. All traumatic events predicted sleeplessness at similar magnitudes, although population models indicated that childhood interpersonal trauma may be particularly potent. An association between CSA and sleeplessness was also replicated. A series of genetic analyses demonstrated that the single nucleotide polymorphism-based heritability of sleep phenotypes did not differ significantly from zero. Further, association analyses did not identify any genome-wide significant loci. However, using a liberal false discovery rate threshold of 0.5, two genes of interest, KCNK9 and ALDH1A2, emerged for the SDS. Polygenic risk score (PRS) analyses demonstrated genetic overlap between the SDS in MDD cases and GS in MDD controls, with PRSs explaining 0.2-0.3% of the variance. A final combined model of both genetic and environmental risk indicated that both PRS and traumatic events were significant predictors of sleeplessness. While genetic results should be interpreted with caution given the lack of heritability, additional research into the genetic and environmental contributions to insomnia, utilizing more standardized phenotypes and properly ascertained samples, is clearly warranted.