Humanism and Social Resilience, University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Care Ethics, University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2024;15(1):2306792. doi: 10.1080/20008066.2024.2306792. Epub 2024 Jan 30.
High-risk professionals and specialised nurses in hospitals are frequently exposed to potentially traumatic events. Psychotrauma researchers have extensively studied personal risk factors of traumatisation among high-risk professionals, but it is hard to understand psychological functioning when professionals are decontextualised from their social environment. Generally, it has been well documented that to reduce the risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other mental health problems related to traumatisation, it is essential to be embedded in a supportive social environment. However, study results among and within these occupational groups show great variety and even inconsistencies as to what is a supportive social environment. This ethnographical research, including participant observation, in-depth interviews, and document analysis, explored the social environment of firefighters, police officers, ambulance paramedics, specialised nurses, and military personnel and aims to explore their social connections and embeddedness. We performed a thematic content analysis of data to identify themes related to social or emotional support, social relationships, and stress or traumatisation. An analysis of the observational field notes, which covered 332 h of participant observation and 71 evenly distributed formal in-depth interviews, identified four themes related to social connections and embeddedness: , , , and . Results revealed that the military, police, and professional firefighters have family-like hierarchical connections and highly value group unity. Paramedics and most specialised nurses, however, tend to value individuality and autonomy in their work relationships. This research shows noticeable differences in the social environments and social connections of these professionals, which implicates that prevention and mental health treatment might also have to be differentiated among occupational groups.
医院的高风险职业者和专业护士经常接触潜在的创伤性事件。心理创伤研究人员广泛研究了高风险职业者创伤的个人风险因素，但很难理解将专业人员与其社会环境割裂时的心理功能。一般来说，有大量文献记录表明，为了降低创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）或与创伤相关的其他心理健康问题的风险，将专业人员嵌入支持性的社会环境中是至关重要的。然而，这些职业群体中的研究结果表明，什么是支持性的社会环境存在很大的差异，甚至存在矛盾。这项包括参与观察、深入访谈和文献分析的民族志研究，探索了消防员、警察、急救医护人员、专业护士和军人的社会环境，并旨在探索他们的社会联系和嵌入性。我们对数据进行了主题内容分析，以确定与社会或情感支持、社会关系以及压力或创伤相关的主题。对涵盖 332 小时参与观察和 71 次均匀分布的正式深入访谈的观察现场记录的分析，确定了与社会联系和嵌入性相关的四个主题： 、 、 、 。结果表明，军队、警察和职业消防员具有类似家庭的等级关系，并非常重视团队团结。然而，急救人员和大多数专业护士往往在工作关系中重视个性和自主性。这项研究表明，这些专业人员的社会环境和社会联系存在显著差异，这意味着预防和心理健康治疗也可能需要在职业群体之间进行区分。
