TY - JOUR
T1 - Firefighters, posttraumatic stress disorder, and barriers to treatment
T2 - Results from a nationwide total population survey
AU - Kim, Jieun E.
AU - Dager, Stephen R.
AU - Jeong, Hyeonseok S.
AU - Ma, Jiyoung
AU - Park, Shinwon
AU - Kim, Jungyoon
AU - Choi, Yera
AU - Lee, Suji L.
AU - Kang, Ilhyang
AU - Ha, Eunji
AU - Cho, Han Byul
AU - Lee, Sunho
AU - Kim, Eui Jung
AU - Yoon, Sujung
AU - Lyoo, In Kyoon
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Kim et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2018/1
Y1 - 2018/1
N2 - Repeated exposure to traumatic experiences may put professional firefighters at increased risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To date, however, the rate of PTSD symptoms, unmet need for mental health treatment, and barriers to treatment have only been investigated in subsamples rather than the total population of firefighters. We conducted a nationwide, total population-based survey of all currently employed South Korean firefighters (n = 39,562). The overall response rate was 93.8% (n = 37,093), with 68.0% (n = 26,887) complete responses for all variables. The rate of current probable PTSD was estimated as 5.4%. Among those with current probable PTSD (n = 1,995), only a small proportion (9.7%) had received mental health treatment during the past month. For those who had not received treatment, perceived barriers of accessibility to treatment (29.3%) and concerns about potential stigma (33.8%) were reasons for not receiving treatment. Although those with higher PTSD symptom severity and functional impairment were more likely to seek treatment, greater symptom severity and functional impairment were most strongly associated with increased concerns about potential stigma. This nationwide study points to the need for new approaches to promote access to mental health treatment in professional firefighters.
AB - Repeated exposure to traumatic experiences may put professional firefighters at increased risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To date, however, the rate of PTSD symptoms, unmet need for mental health treatment, and barriers to treatment have only been investigated in subsamples rather than the total population of firefighters. We conducted a nationwide, total population-based survey of all currently employed South Korean firefighters (n = 39,562). The overall response rate was 93.8% (n = 37,093), with 68.0% (n = 26,887) complete responses for all variables. The rate of current probable PTSD was estimated as 5.4%. Among those with current probable PTSD (n = 1,995), only a small proportion (9.7%) had received mental health treatment during the past month. For those who had not received treatment, perceived barriers of accessibility to treatment (29.3%) and concerns about potential stigma (33.8%) were reasons for not receiving treatment. Although those with higher PTSD symptom severity and functional impairment were more likely to seek treatment, greater symptom severity and functional impairment were most strongly associated with increased concerns about potential stigma. This nationwide study points to the need for new approaches to promote access to mental health treatment in professional firefighters.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040028233&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0190630
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0190630
M3 - Article
C2 - 29304155
AN - SCOPUS:85040028233
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 13
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 1
M1 - e0190630
ER -