Lifetime exposure to traumatic events among a sample of city bus drivers

Dangers on the road: A longitudinal examination of passenger-initiated violence against bus drivers

This study examined the impact of workplace violence against 109 bus drivers over a 1-year span. Workplace violence is related to both psychological and work-related consequences. Our findings showed that bus drivers experienced a wide range of violence at work and the psychological consequences were devastating: Half of the participants met the diagnostic criteria for acute stress disorder within the first month following the index event. Majority of them experienced at least moderate levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) problems over the 1-year span. About 9.3% of participants showed a delayed onset of PTSD 6 months after. Furthermore, counter-supportive behaviours and reexposure to violence played important roles in the maintenance of PTSD symptoms over time. Even though PTSD symptoms per se did not relate to bus driver's confidence in coping with aggressive passengers, the immediate post-traumatic reaction-symptoms of acute stress disorder-showed a significant long-term negative effect on bus drivers' confidence in dealing with aggressive passengers 12 months after. This study provided empirical evidence of the changing nature of PTSD symptoms over time among bus drivers.

Comorbid Depression and Other Predictors of PTSD Severity in Urban Public Transit Employees

The purpose of the study was to determine whether post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) among urban public transit employees who were exposed to a workplace traumatic event is associated with greater PTSD severity over the 6-month follow-up period compared to PTSD without MDD, and also to identify predictors of PTSD severity among these employees. Information about Axis-I diagnosis and PTSD severity were collected from the SCID-I and the Modified PTSD Symptom Scale (MPSS) respectively. PTSD without MDD (N = 29) and PTSD with MDD (N = 37) groups were not significantly different in terms of PTSD severity. The severity of depression (p = 0.01), female (p = 0.01), non-Caucasian (p = 0.01), perceived high workplace related stress (p = 0.02), and history of lifetime trauma (p = 0.01) were significantly associated with greater PTSD severity after controlling other variables. This study highlights the importance of modifiable variables for reducing PTSD severity after a workplace traumatic event in transit employees.

A prospective study of trait anger and PTSD symptoms in police

It is unknown whether anger is a risk factor for the development of posttraumatic stress disorder ( PTSD) symptoms, arises as a consequence of PTSD, or both. Two hypotheses were tested in 180 police recruits: Greater trait anger during training will predict greater PTSD symptoms at one year; greater PTSD symptoms at one year will predict greater state anger at one year. Both hypotheses were confirmed, suggesting that trait anger is a risk factor for PTSD symptoms, but that PTSD symptoms are also associated with an increase of state anger. Increased anger is important not only because of the impact it has on individual distress and physical health, but also because of its potential public health impact.