Psychological Distress and Post-Traumatic Symptoms Following Occupational Accidents

Behavioral Sciences

Marta Ghisi²  Caterina Novara²  Giulia Buodo²  Matthew O. Kimble¹  Simona Scozzari²  Arianna Di Natale²  Ezio Sanavio² 

[1] Department of Psychology, Middlebury College, McCardell Bicentennial Hall, 276 Bicentennial Way, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA; E-Mail:;Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia, 8, 35131 Padova, Italy; E-Mails:

关键词: work accidents;    trauma;    psychological distress;    post-traumatic stress disorder;    assessment;   

DOI  :  10.3390/bs3040587

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Depression and post-traumatic stress disorder frequently occur as a consequence of occupational accidents. To date, research has been primarily focused on high-risk workers, such as police officers or firefighters, and has rarely considered individuals whose occupational environment involves the risk of severe, but not necessarily life-threatening, injury. Therefore, the present study was aimed at assessing the psychological consequences of accidents occurring in several occupational settings (e.g., construction and industry). Thirty-eight victims of occupational accidents (injured workers) and 38 gender-, age-, and years of education-matched workers who never experienced a work accident (control group) were recruited. All participants underwent a semi-structured interview administered by a trained psychologist, and then were requested to fill in the questionnaires. Injured workers reported more severe anxious, post-traumatic and depressive symptoms, and poorer coping skills, as compared to controls. In the injured group low levels of resilience predicted post-traumatic symptomatology, whereas the degree of physical injury and the length of time since the accident did not play a predictive role. The results suggest that occupational accidents may result in a disabling psychopathological condition, and that a brief psychological evaluation should be included in the assessment of seriously injured workers.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.