College of Social Work, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
Department of Communication Studies, Indiana University East, Richmond, IN, USA.
Crisis. 2022 Mar;43(2):105-111. doi: 10.1027/0227-5910/a000760. Epub 2021 Feb 10.
Crisis workers provide services to individuals who are in acute distress. There is no research examining personal and occupational exposure to suicide in these workers. We aimed to examine the prevalence of personal, occupational, and colleague suicide exposure among crisis workers, the mental health outcomes associated with suicide exposures, and perceived professional preparedness for client suicide. Crisis workers ( = 115) completed an online survey assessing suicide exposure, depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Over a third of participants (33.9%, = 37) reported that they had lost at least one client to suicide, with an average of 2.30 clients ( = 4.47) lost to suicide. Over three quarters (77.1%, = 81) of study participants reported they had experienced at least one personal loss to suicide. Those who perceived their relationship to the personal suicide as close or very close had significantly greater PTSD symptoms ( = 3.29, = 2.23) than those who perceived their relationship as not at all close, not close, or somewhat close ( = 1.38, = 1.69), (20) = -2.10, = .049. Snowball sampling is the study's main limitation. The current study demonstrates that a substantial percentage of crisis workers are exposed to suicide and additional research is needed to determine how exposures impact practice and personal symptoms in this population.
危机工作者为处于急性痛苦中的个人提供服务。目前还没有研究检查这些工作者的个人和职业暴露于自杀的情况。我们旨在检查危机工作者中个人、职业和同事自杀暴露的流行率、与自杀暴露相关的心理健康结果，以及对客户自杀的专业准备情况。危机工作者（n=115）完成了一项在线调查，评估自杀暴露、抑郁、焦虑和创伤后应激障碍。超过三分之一的参与者（33.9%，n=37）报告说他们至少失去了一名自杀客户，平均有 2.30 名客户（n=4.47）自杀身亡。超过四分之三（77.1%，n=81）的研究参与者报告说他们至少经历过一次个人自杀。那些认为自己与个人自杀的关系密切或非常密切的人，创伤后应激障碍症状显著更严重（=3.29，=2.23），而那些认为自己与自杀的关系一点也不密切、不密切或有些密切的人（=1.38，=1.69），（20）=-2.10，=0.049。雪球抽样是该研究的主要局限性。目前的研究表明，相当一部分危机工作者暴露于自杀，需要进一步研究确定暴露如何影响该人群的实践和个人症状。
