title: Associations between work environment and psychological distress after a workplace terror attack: the importance of role expectations, predictability and leader support.
abstract: Experiencing terrorism is associated with high levels of psychological distress among survivors. The aim of the present study was to examine whether work environmental factors such as role clarity and predictability, role conflicts, and leader support may protect against elevated levels of psychological distress after a workplace terrorist attack. Data from approximately 1800 ministerial employees were collected ten months after the 2011 Oslo bombing attack which targeted the Norwegian ministries. The results show that after a traumatic event, lower role conflicts, higher role clarity, higher predictability, and higher leader support were independently associated with lower psychological distress. These findings suggest that the workplace environment may be a facilitator of employees' mental health after stressful events.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Marianne Skogbrott
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Birkeland
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo, Norway; Department of psychosocial science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Morten Birkeland
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Stein
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knardahl
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies, Oslo, Norway; Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Trond
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heir
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D054042:Bombs; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D012919:Social Behavior; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology; D023481:Terrorism / Q000523:psychology*; D014937:Work / Q000523:psychology; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*