How does immediate recall of a stressful event affect psychological response to it?

Reasons for Turnover of Kansas Public Health Officials during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Public health officials played a critical role in COVID-19 mitigation and response efforts. In Kansas, 51 local health department (LHD) administrators and/or local health officers left their positions due to the pandemic between 15 March 2020 and 31 August 2021. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that led to turnover of Kansas local public health officials during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those eligible to participate in this study included former LHD administrators and/or health officers who were employed at or contracted by a Kansas LHD on 15 March 2020 and resigned, retired, or were asked to resign prior to 31 August 2021. Researchers used a demographic survey, a focus group, and key informant interviews to collect data. Twelve former LHD leaders participated in this study. Four themes emerged from phenomenological analysis: politicization of public health; a perceived lack of support; stress and burnout; and the public health infrastructure not working. The findings of this study can guide the Kansas public health system to address the issues leading to turnover of leadership and prevent future turnover. Future research must explore strategies for mitigating leadership turnover and identify alternative public health structures that could be more effective.

Effects of acute exercise on emotional memory

Research has demonstrated beneficial effects of acute exercise on memory for neutral materials, such as word lists of neutral valence/low arousal. However, the impacts of exercise on emotional memory is less understood. Across three laboratory experiments in college students, we tested if acute exercise could enhance both neutral and emotional memory performance, anticipating a greater effect for emotional memory. We examined effects of exercise at varying intensities (Experiment 1: high-intensity; Experiment 2: low- and high-intensity; Experiment 3: moderate-intensity), of diverse modalities (Experiment 1: treadmill jogging; Experiment 2: cycling; Experiment 3: open-skill (racquetball) and closed-skill (treadmill jogging) exercise), and on emotional memory performance assessed at increasing levels of hippocampal dependency (Experiment 1: Y/N recognition task; Experiment 2: paired-associative recognition task; Experiment 3: cued-recall task). We found that, in all experiments, acute exercise did not significantly influence emotional or neutral memory performance relative to sedentary control conditions. However, we observed several noteworthy outcomes indicating that acute exercise may be linked to improvements in memory confidence and accuracy for central aspects of emotional memory stimuli, and that select exercise modalities (e.g. treadmill exercise) may also be associated with increased frequency of memory intrusions.

The impact of recall timing on the preservation of eyewitness memory

Two studies investigated the impact of recall timing on eyewitness memory. In Study 1, participants viewed a crime video and then completed the Self-Administered Interview (SAI^©) either immediately, after a 24-h delay, after a 1-week delay, or not at all. All participants completed a final recall questionnaire 2 weeks after they had viewed the stimulus video. Study 2 aimed to determine how long the beneficial impact of the SAI^© on witnesses' long-term memory lasts. Participants watched a crime video and then either completed the SAI^© or did not engage in an immediate recall attempt. Participants then completed a final recall questionnaire after a delay of 24 h, 1 week, 2 weeks, or 1 month. The results indicated that initial recall should be completed within 24 h of an incident and that under these conditions, the beneficial impact of early recall on long-term memory endures for at least 1 month.

Understanding the psychological impacts of responding to a terrorist incident

BACKGROUND

Responding to a mass casualty event can cause significant distress, even for highly trained medical and emergency services personnel.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the study was to understand more about first responders' perspectives about their participation in major incident responses, specifically how and which individual and system factors contributed to their preparedness or may have enabled or hindered their response. The aim of the work was to improve preparedness and response for future incidents.

METHODS

This study reports a detailed analysis of qualitative interview data from frontline staff who responded to a large mass casualty terrorist incident in the UK in 2017. Data highlighted the psychological distress caused by responding to terrorist events and thus became the focus of further, detailed analysis.

RESULTS

Participants (n = 21) articulated in their own words the psychological distress experienced by many of the first responders to the event. Participants reported that they were not prepared to deal with psychological impact associated with this mass casualty terrorist incident and their role in the response, and that follow-up support was inconsistent. Multiple factors were identified as potentially increasing psychological distress. Social support provided by peers and organizational debriefs were identified as two most common support mechanisms. Organizational support was identified as inconsistent.

CONCLUSIONS

This research contributes to the literature the voices of first responders to UK terrorist incidents, building on existing findings while further contributing unique contextual perspectives. This research reinforces the importance of psychosocial support for those who respond to these tragic incidents, and offers a number of recommendations for organizational preparedness for future events.

ABBREVIATIONS

A&E: Accident and Emergency; EPRR: Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response; ERD: Emergency Response Department; HEPE: Health Emergency Preparedness Exercise; PHE: Public Health England; PHE REGG: Public Health England Research Ethics and Governance Group; MCI: Mass Casualty Incident; NHS: National Health Service.

Consistency of Recall for Deployment-Related Traumatic Brain Injury

OBJECTIVE

To examine the temporal consistency of self-reported deployment-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its association with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity.

SETTING

In-person interviews at US Army installations (postdeployment); phone interviews (long-term follow-up).

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 378 US Army soldiers and veterans deployed to Iraq; 14.3% (n = 54) reported TBI with loss of consciousness during an index deployment.

DESIGN

Participants were evaluated after returning from deployment and again 5 to 9 years later.

MAIN MEASURES

Temporal consistency of TBI endorsement based on TBI screening interviews; PTSD Checklist, Civilian Version.

RESULTS

The concordance of deployment-related TBI endorsement from the postdeployment to long-term follow-up assessment was moderate (κ = 0.53). Of the 54 participants reporting (predominantly mild) TBI occurring during an index deployment, 32 endorsed TBI inconsistently over time. More severe PTSD symptoms at postdeployment assessment were independently associated with discordant reporting (P = .0004); each 10-point increase in PCL scores increasing odds of discordance by 69% (odds ratio = 1.69; 95% confidence interval, 1.26-2.26).

CONCLUSIONS

Deployment-related TBI may not be reported reliably over time, particularly among war-zone veterans with greater PTSD symptoms. Results of screening evaluations for TBI history should be viewed with caution in the context of PTSD symptom history.

Sense of Coherence as a Determinant of Psychological Well-Being Across Professional Groups of Aid Workers Exposed to War Trauma

The present study aims to test whether sense of coherence (SOC) acts as a determinant of positive psychological functioning in aid workers directly exposed to warfare. Specifically, we performed multiple regression analyses to compare different groups of aid workers in terms of the effects of SOC and cumulative trauma on their psychological distress. Palestinian helpers, both professional and non-professional ( N = 159) completed three self-reported measures: the General Health questionnaire, Sense of Coherence Scale, and Impact of Events Scale. The findings bear out the predictive power of SOC and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in relation to mental health across different professional groups. In particular, volunteers without a specific professional profile, psychiatrists, medical doctors, and less markedly counselors seemed to protect their mental health through a SOC. Clinical implications and recommendations for training and supervision are discussed.

Effectiveness of the Self-Administered Interview and Drawing Pictures for Eliciting Eyewitness Memories

The Self-Administered Interview (SAI) is a tool that is used to obtain eyewitness memories. Adopting the techniques of the cognitive interview (CI), the SAI was developed in the form of a booklet consisting of several parts. The unique aspect of the SAI is a sketch section that asks eyewitnesses to describe the context of an incident by drawing pictures. This study investigates the effectiveness of the SAI by focusing on the effect of the sketch on memory recall. Participants (n = 180) watched a crime video and recalled events in a 3 (recall method: SAI, CI, free recall [FR]) × 2 (delay: immediate, one week) between-subjects design. The results showed no significant difference among recall methods when the information from the sketch was excluded. When the sketch information was included, the SAI gained better results than the CI and FR in terms of memory recall. In addition, memory performance was better for the immediate SAI compared with the delayed CI. The practical implications of the SAI are discussed.

The relationship between suppression and subsequent intrusions: the mediating role of peritraumatic dissociation and anxiety

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Although previous studies showed that thought and emotion suppression represent risk factors for intrusions development, the mechanisms that explain these relations were less explored. This study aims to examine the relationships between thought and emotion suppression and the symptoms of intrusion following the exposure to a trauma-related event. Moreover, we explored if these relationships would be mediated by peritraumatic state dissociation and state anxiety.

DESIGN AND METHODS

The trauma film paradigm was used and the participants were students (N = 148) experimentally exposed to an aversive film to model a traumatic experience. Thought and emotion suppression were measured before the trauma exposure. After exposure, the participants completed scales for measuring state dissociation and state anxiety. Intrusive images and thoughts of the film were recorded in the subsequent week using an intrusion diary.

RESULTS

Thought suppression predicted intrusive thoughts frequency, and this effect was mediated by the peritraumatic anxiety. State anxiety predicted both intrusive images and thoughts, while state dissociation only predicted intrusive images.

CONCLUSIONS

Intrusive images and intrusive thoughts are different phenomena and they are predicted by different variables. The practical implications of these results for posttraumatic stress disorder treatment and secondary traumatization are discussed.