title: Post-traumatic stress disorder among bank employee victims of robbery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the occupational context, especially following workplace robbery, is still under-investigated.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate PTSD incidence and risk factors among bank employee victims of robbery voluntarily joining an employer-sponsored post-robbery support programme.
  
  
  METHODS
  The programme entailed a structured support interview with robbery victims within 15 days of the robbery and a follow-up psychological assessment 45 days after. A self-reported questionnaire on personal variables and robbery characteristics was administered to participants at the first support session (T1). Interviews on employees' psychophysical health and their opinion about the support programme were administered individually at follow-up (T2). The Impact of Event Scale (IES) was administered both at T1 and T2.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 383 participants. At T2, 13% of subjects had an IES score >34, a cut-off suggestive of PTSD. In a multi-variate model, feelings of helplessness and terror during the robbery and the number of previous robberies were associated with a PTSD diagnosis. After including IES score at T1, other variables lost statistical significance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings showed that PTSD is common among employee victims of workplace robbery. Our results also suggest the importance of subjective variables, such as personal perception of robbery severity and early emotional reaction, in identifying people at higher risk of developing PTSD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Via San Barnaba n.8, 20122 Milan, Italy, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Maggiore Policlinico Hospital, Ca' Granda Foundation, 20122 Milan, Italy, giuseppepaolo.fichera@unimi.it.
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Fichera
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Via San Barnaba n.8, 20122 Milan, Italy, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Maggiore Policlinico Hospital, Ca' Granda Foundation, 20122 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fattori
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Via San Barnaba n.8, 20122 Milan, Italy, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Maggiore Policlinico Hospital, Ca' Granda Foundation, 20122 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Neri
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal and Public Medicine, University of Bari, 70120 Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Musti
authors.affiliation: Struttura Complessa a Direzione Universitaria di Medicina del Lavoro-AOU Citta della salute e della Scienza, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Coggiola
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Via San Barnaba n.8, 20122 Milan, Italy, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Maggiore Policlinico Hospital, Ca' Granda Foundation, 20122 Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Costa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013800:Theft / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Crisis management programme; PTSD bank robbery; violence; workplace trauma.