title: Reactions of police officers to body-handling after a major disaster. A before-and-after comparison.
abstract: This study reports the results of an unusual opportunity to follow up a group of police officers who were involved in body-handling duties following the Piper Alpha disaster, and for whom there were available data from pre-disaster assessments. In addition, after these duties, the officers were compared with a matched control group of officers who had not been involved in such work. The comparisons failed to demonstrate high levels of post-traumatic distress or psychiatric morbidity. The results are interpreted in terms of issues such as the officers' own coping strategies, and major organisational and managerial factors.
authors.affiliation: Medical School, University of Aberdeen, Foresterhill, Scotland.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wells
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D001293:Attitude to Death; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D004190:Disasters; D005107:Explosions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology