Department of Developmental Psychology, Åbo Akademi University, Vasa, Finland.
Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2012;3. doi: 10.3402/ejpt.v3i0.18388. Epub 2012 Aug 16.
News journalists are an occupational group with a unique task at the scene of an unfolding crisis-to collect information and inform the public about the event. By being on location, journalists put themselves at risk for being exposed to the potentially traumatic event.
To compare potentially traumatic exposure during work assignments at a crisis scene and in personal life as predictors of the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in news journalists. Further, to investigate the mediating effect of depression between the predictor and predicted variables.
With a web-based questionnaire, information from a sample of Finnish news journalists (n=407) was collected. The data collected included details on the range of potentially traumatic assignments (PTAs) at the crisis scene during the past 12 months, lifetime potentially traumatic events (PTEs) in personal life, PTSD symptoms, and level of depression.
Approximately 50% of the participants had worked with a PTA during the past 12 months. Depression had a significant indirect effect on the relationship between PTAs at the scene and symptoms of PTSD. A similar result was found regarding the relationship between personal life PTEs and PTSD. Depression had a complete indirect effect in the case of PTAs and a partial indirect effect in regard to PTE exposure in personal life.
Exposure to PTAs is common within journalistic work. The results reflect the importance of understanding the underlying mechanisms of the measured symptoms (PTSD, depression) in relation to trauma history. The main limitations of the study include the cross-sectional design and the nature of the instruments used for the collection of work-related trauma history.
新闻记者是一个职业群体，他们在危机事件现场有一项独特的任务——收集信息并向公众通报事件。由于身处现场，记者自己也有暴露于潜在创伤性事件的风险。
比较在危机现场工作任务和个人生活中潜在创伤性暴露作为新闻记者创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）发展的预测因素。此外，还研究了抑郁在预测变量和预测变量之间的中介作用。
通过在线问卷调查，收集了芬兰新闻记者（n=407）的样本信息。收集的数据包括过去 12 个月在危机现场进行的潜在创伤性任务（PTA）范围、个人生活中的终生潜在创伤事件（PTE）、PTSD 症状和抑郁程度的详细信息。
约 50%的参与者在过去 12 个月内曾参与过 PTA。抑郁对现场 PTA 与 PTSD 症状之间的关系有显著的间接影响。个人生活中的 PTE 与 PTSD 之间的关系也有类似的结果。在 PTA 方面，抑郁有完全的间接影响，而在个人生活中的 PTE 暴露方面，抑郁有部分间接影响。
在新闻工作中，暴露于 PTA 是常见的。研究结果反映了理解与创伤史相关的测量症状（PTSD、抑郁）的潜在机制的重要性。该研究的主要局限性包括横断面设计和用于收集与工作相关创伤史的工具的性质。
