Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Department of Psychology, Health & Technology, Faculty of Behavioural Management and Social Sciences, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands.
Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2024;15(1):2404296. doi: 10.1080/20008066.2024.2404296. Epub 2024 Sep 24.
Firefighters face regular exposure to potentially traumatic events, which is associated with the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Despite the high comorbidity, there remains limited understanding of the co-occurrence of PTSD and depression in terms of symptom patterns. Due to the unique stressors added by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is relevant to also understand this comorbidity in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to identify PTSD and depression symptom profiles in firefighters, and correlates thereof, using latent profile analysis (LPA). 139 Dutch Firefighters (93% male) completed self-report surveys prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (T1) and after the outbreak COVID-19 pandemic (T2) on PTSD, depression, COVID-19 related stressors and other relevant correlates. LPA demonstrated the best fit for a three-profile solution for PTSD and depression at T2 encompassing a low symptom profile (35%), a moderate symptom profile (46%), and an elevated symptom profile (19%). Profiles displayed mostly below clinical range scores for both PTSD and depression at T2. PTSD severity at T1, depression severity at T1, loneliness at T2, COVID-19-related stressors at T2 were significantly and positively related to PTSD and depression symptom profiles at T2. Our results shed light on the resilience of firefighters. Even in light of COVID-19 pandemic, firefighters seemed to maintain generally low levels of psychopathology. Despite firefighters' overall resilience, our findings highlight loneliness and the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as potential risk factors for increased severity of PTSD and depression symptoms.
消防员经常面临潜在的创伤性事件，这与创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）和抑郁的发展有关。尽管共病率很高，但对于 PTSD 和抑郁在症状模式方面的共病，人们的理解仍然有限。由于 COVID-19 大流行带来了独特的压力源，因此了解 COVID-19 大流行对共病的影响也很重要。本研究旨在使用潜在剖面分析（LPA）确定消防员的 PTSD 和抑郁症状模式及其相关因素。139 名荷兰消防员（93%为男性）在 COVID-19 大流行之前（T1）和之后（T2）完成了 PTSD、抑郁、COVID-19 相关压力源和其他相关因素的自我报告调查。LPA 显示，T2 时 PTSD 和抑郁的最佳拟合是三剖面解决方案，包括低症状剖面（35%）、中度症状剖面（46%）和升高症状剖面（19%）。在 T2 时，这些剖面的 PTSD 和抑郁症状评分大多低于临床范围。T1 时的 PTSD 严重程度、T1 时的抑郁严重程度、T2 时的孤独感、T2 时的 COVID-19 相关压力源与 T2 时的 PTSD 和抑郁症状剖面显著正相关。我们的研究结果揭示了消防员的适应能力。即使在 COVID-19 大流行的情况下，消防员似乎仍然保持着总体较低水平的精神病理学。尽管消防员整体具有适应力，但我们的研究结果强调了孤独感和 COVID-19 大流行的负面影响，这些可能是 PTSD 和抑郁症状严重程度增加的潜在风险因素。
