Judgement of risk in traumatized and nontraumatized emergency medical service personnel.
This study investigated the hypothesis that posttraumatic stress is associated with a judgement of risk bias, defined as an overestimation of the likelihood of the occurrence of adverse events, as proposed by information-processing theories of posttraumatic stress disorder. Emergency medical service personnel with high PTSD symptomatology (n =27) and without PTSD symptoms (n = 74) completed the PTSD Symptom Scale: Self-report version, the Work Experiences Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory, and an Event Probability Questionnaire. Analysis showed that individuals with high PTSD symptomatology exhibited significantly more judgement of risk bias, that this cognitive bias was towards a wider range of threats than those involving only the threat of external harm, and that intrusion was its best predictor.
Nortje
Charl
C
Department of Psychology, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. cn3@sun.ac.za
Roberts
Craig B
CB
Möller
André T
AT
D000328:Adult; D015982:Bias; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008016:Life Change Events; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011336:Probability; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013019:South Africa; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology