TY - JOUR

T1 - Association of Psychological Distress, Contextual Factors and Individual Differences among Citizen Responders

AU - Ries, E

AU - Kragh, A. R.

AU - Dammeyer, Jesper

AU - Folke, Fredrik

AU - Andelius, L

AU - Hansen, Christian Muff

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Background: Little is known about the psychological risks of dispatched citizen responders who have participated in resuscitation attempts.Methods and Results: A cross‐sectional survey study was performed with 102 citizen responders who participated in a resuscitation attempt from July 23, 2018, to August 22, 2018, in the Capital Region of Denmark. Psychological distress, defined as symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, was assessed 3 weeks after the resuscitation attempt and measured with the Impact of Event Scale‐Revised. Perceived stress was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale. Individual differences were assessed as the personality traits of agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience with the Big Five Inventory, general self‐efficacy, and coping mechanisms (Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory). Associations between continuous variables were examined with the Pearson correlation. The associations between psychological distress levels and contextual factors and individual differences were analyzed in multivariable linear regression models to determine factors independently associated with psychological distress levels. The mean overall posttraumatic stress disorder score was 0.65 of 12; the mean perceived stress score was 7.61 of 40. The most common coping mechanisms were acceptance and emotional support. Low perceived stress was significantly associated with high general self‐efficacy, and high perceived stress was significantly associated with high scores on neuroticism and openness to experience. Non–healthcare professionals were less likely to report symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.Conclusions: Citizen responders who participated in resuscitation reported low levels of psychological distress. Individual differences were significantly associated with levels of psychological distress and should be considered when engaging citizen responders in resuscitation.

AB - Background: Little is known about the psychological risks of dispatched citizen responders who have participated in resuscitation attempts.Methods and Results: A cross‐sectional survey study was performed with 102 citizen responders who participated in a resuscitation attempt from July 23, 2018, to August 22, 2018, in the Capital Region of Denmark. Psychological distress, defined as symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, was assessed 3 weeks after the resuscitation attempt and measured with the Impact of Event Scale‐Revised. Perceived stress was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale. Individual differences were assessed as the personality traits of agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism, and openness to experience with the Big Five Inventory, general self‐efficacy, and coping mechanisms (Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory). Associations between continuous variables were examined with the Pearson correlation. The associations between psychological distress levels and contextual factors and individual differences were analyzed in multivariable linear regression models to determine factors independently associated with psychological distress levels. The mean overall posttraumatic stress disorder score was 0.65 of 12; the mean perceived stress score was 7.61 of 40. The most common coping mechanisms were acceptance and emotional support. Low perceived stress was significantly associated with high general self‐efficacy, and high perceived stress was significantly associated with high scores on neuroticism and openness to experience. Non–healthcare professionals were less likely to report symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.Conclusions: Citizen responders who participated in resuscitation reported low levels of psychological distress. Individual differences were significantly associated with levels of psychological distress and should be considered when engaging citizen responders in resuscitation.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - citizen responders

KW - individual differences

KW - Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

KW - posttraumatic stress disorder

KW - psychological distress

KW - stress

U2 - 10.1161/JAHA.120.020378

DO - 10.1161/JAHA.120.020378

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34212765

VL - 10

JO - Journal of the American Heart Association

JF - Journal of the American Heart Association

SN - 2047-9980

IS - 13

ER -