title: Somatization and psychiatric symptoms among hospital nurses exposed to war stressors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Research regarding nurses' reactions during armed conflict is scarce. The current study compared somatization and psychiatric symptoms of exposed and unexposed hospital nurses in two studies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two studies were conducted during 2009 and included a survey of two random samples of hospital nurses (exposed vs. unexposed), one conducted during the Gaza War, and the other conducted six months later. The design was repeated cross-sectional study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Study 1, exposed nurses had higher level of PTSD symptoms, depressive symptoms and psychosomatic symptoms. In Study 2, exposed nurses did not differ from unexposed nurses in the level of PTSD symptoms and depressive symptoms. However, in Study 2, unexposed nurses reported a higher level of psychosomatic symptoms (10.68 vs 5.62) compared to the exposed group. Moreover, multivariate analysis of covariance revealed a significant interaction effect of Exposure X Study (F = 12.838; p > 0.001; ηp2 = .076; Observed power = 0.945) for somatization.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results are in line with Selye's general adaptation syndrome and the allostatic model. This may suggest that nurses exposed to continuous severe stress that ended and then returned from the exhaustion phase back to daily work stress may have undergone an oscillation period (distress to Eustress).
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel.
authors.forename: Menachem
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ben-Ezra
authors.affiliation: Department of Gerontology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Yuval
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Palgi
authors.affiliation: Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shrira
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel.
authors.forename: Yaira
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hamama-Raz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D014857:Warfare