title: Secondary Traumatic Stress in Postdisaster Field Research Interviewers.
abstract: Numerous studies show that those involved in disaster response may develop posttraumatic stress disorder or experience secondary traumatic stress (STS). There are few reports about the experiences of postdisaster field research interviewers. We report findings from a follow-up study of researchers who conducted postwildfire field research interviews with residents affected by 5 severe wildfire events in Australia over the period 2009-2014. There were 33 postwildfire research interviewers who reported their experiences, and 18 of them (54.5%) described distressing interviews involving deaths, surviving severe threats to life, and destruction of houses. There were 27 (81.6%) who reported having experienced 1 or more STS symptoms on a 20-item measure. Those who conducted interviews following a multifatality wildfire event reported higher levels of STS symptoms compared with researchers whose interviews followed nonfatal wildfires. There were 21 (63.6%) researchers who reported that their interviewing experiences had positive effects on their lives. This indicates that the researcher role of gathering information so that future wildfire risk could be mitigated may have served a protective function.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McLennan
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Lynette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.affiliation: School of Social & Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cowlishaw
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Lindsay
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pamment
authors.affiliation: Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Lyndsey
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wright
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D000068376:Compassion Fatigue / Q000209:etiology*; D004190:Disasters; D005260:Female; D005390:Fires; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires