title: Psychiatric symptoms and psychosocial functioning among hospital personnel during the Gaza War: a repeated cross-sectional study.
abstract: Studies of mental health among hospital personnel during armed conflict are scarce and usually include single time point investigations without a comparison group. The authors compared the psychiatric symptoms and psychosocial functioning of exposed and unexposed hospital personnel at two time points. The research was conducted during 2009 and included a survey of two random samples of hospital personnel (physicians and nurses), one collected during the Gaza War and the other 6 months later. Each sample included hospital personnel who were exposed to war-related stress and others who were not (Study 1: n=67 and 74 for exposed and unexposed, respectively; Study 2: n=57 and 50 for exposed and unexposed, respectively). Levels of psychiatric symptoms and psychosocial functioning were measured. Compared to unexposed hospital personnel, exposed hospital personnel had a significantly higher level of post-traumatic symptoms during the Gaza War and 6 months later. In addition, during the Gaza War, exposed hospital personnel had a significantly higher level of depressive symptoms. However, in the second study, depressive symptoms were similar to those found in the unexposed group. These findings may suggest that war-related stress is associated with post-traumatic symptoms among hospital personnel even 6 months after exposure.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Ariel University center of Samaria, Israel. menbe@ariel.ac.il
authors.forename: Menachem
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ben-Ezra
authors.forename: Yuval
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Palgi
authors.forename: Jonathan Jacob
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shrira
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008877:Middle East / Q000453:epidemiology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D011584:Psychology; D014857:Warfare; D055815:Young Adult