Understanding the psychological impacts of responding to a terrorist incident

Background Responding to a mass casualty event can cause significant distress, even for highly trained medical and emergency services personnel. Objective The purpose of the study was to understand more about first responders’ perspectives about their participation in major incident responses, speci...

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Autores principales:	Elena A. Skryabina, Naomi Betts, Richard Amlôt, Gabriel Reedy
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Taylor & Francis Group 2021
Materias:	major incident psychological effect healthcare responder health response terrorist attack manchester arena bombing responder wellbeing mental health mass casualty Psychiatry RC435-571
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/caa1c0fff6bb4f7a99a440162a69acd4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:caa1c0fff6bb4f7a99a440162a69acd42021-12-01T14:40:59ZUnderstanding the psychological impacts of responding to a terrorist incident2000-806610.1080/20008198.2021.1959116https://doaj.org/article/caa1c0fff6bb4f7a99a440162a69acd42021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2021.1959116https://doaj.org/toc/2000-8066Background Responding to a mass casualty event can cause significant distress, even for highly trained medical and emergency services personnel. Objective The purpose of the study was to understand more about first responders’ perspectives about their participation in major incident responses, specifically how and which individual and system factors contributed to their preparedness or may have enabled or hindered their response. The aim of the work was to improve preparedness and response for future incidents. Methods This study reports a detailed analysis of qualitative interview data from frontline staff who responded to a large mass casualty terrorist incident in the UK in 2017. Data highlighted the psychological distress caused by responding to terrorist events and thus became the focus of further, detailed analysis. Results Participants (n = 21) articulated in their own words the psychological distress experienced by many of the first responders to the event. Participants reported that they were not prepared to deal with psychological impact associated with this mass casualty terrorist incident and their role in the response, and that follow-up support was inconsistent. Multiple factors were identified as potentially increasing psychological distress. Social support provided by peers and organizational debriefs were identified as two most common support mechanisms. Organizational support was identified as inconsistent. Conclusions This research contributes to the literature the voices of first responders to UK terrorist incidents, building on existing findings while further contributing unique contextual perspectives. This research reinforces the importance of psychosocial support for those who respond to these tragic incidents, and offers a number of recommendations for organizational preparedness for future events. Abbreviations A&E: Accident and Emergency; EPRR: Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response; ERD: Emergency Response Department; HEPE: Health Emergency Preparedness Exercise; PHE: Public Health England; PHE REGG: Public Health England Research Ethics and Governance Group; MCI: Mass Casualty Incident; NHS: National Health ServiceElena A. SkryabinaNaomi BettsRichard AmlôtGabriel ReedyTaylor & Francis Grouparticlemajor incidentpsychological effecthealthcare responderhealth responseterrorist attackmanchester arena bombingresponder wellbeingmental healthmass casualtyPsychiatryRC435-571ENEuropean Journal of Psychotraumatology, Vol 12, Iss 1 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	major incident psychological effect healthcare responder health response terrorist attack manchester arena bombing responder wellbeing mental health mass casualty Psychiatry RC435-571
spellingShingle	major incident psychological effect healthcare responder health response terrorist attack manchester arena bombing responder wellbeing mental health mass casualty Psychiatry RC435-571 Elena A. Skryabina Naomi Betts Richard Amlôt Gabriel Reedy Understanding the psychological impacts of responding to a terrorist incident
description	Background Responding to a mass casualty event can cause significant distress, even for highly trained medical and emergency services personnel. Objective The purpose of the study was to understand more about first responders’ perspectives about their participation in major incident responses, specifically how and which individual and system factors contributed to their preparedness or may have enabled or hindered their response. The aim of the work was to improve preparedness and response for future incidents. Methods This study reports a detailed analysis of qualitative interview data from frontline staff who responded to a large mass casualty terrorist incident in the UK in 2017. Data highlighted the psychological distress caused by responding to terrorist events and thus became the focus of further, detailed analysis. Results Participants (n = 21) articulated in their own words the psychological distress experienced by many of the first responders to the event. Participants reported that they were not prepared to deal with psychological impact associated with this mass casualty terrorist incident and their role in the response, and that follow-up support was inconsistent. Multiple factors were identified as potentially increasing psychological distress. Social support provided by peers and organizational debriefs were identified as two most common support mechanisms. Organizational support was identified as inconsistent. Conclusions This research contributes to the literature the voices of first responders to UK terrorist incidents, building on existing findings while further contributing unique contextual perspectives. This research reinforces the importance of psychosocial support for those who respond to these tragic incidents, and offers a number of recommendations for organizational preparedness for future events. Abbreviations A&E: Accident and Emergency; EPRR: Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response; ERD: Emergency Response Department; HEPE: Health Emergency Preparedness Exercise; PHE: Public Health England; PHE REGG: Public Health England Research Ethics and Governance Group; MCI: Mass Casualty Incident; NHS: National Health Service
format	article
author	Elena A. Skryabina Naomi Betts Richard Amlôt Gabriel Reedy
author_facet	Elena A. Skryabina Naomi Betts Richard Amlôt Gabriel Reedy
author_sort	Elena A. Skryabina
title	Understanding the psychological impacts of responding to a terrorist incident
title_short	Understanding the psychological impacts of responding to a terrorist incident
title_full	Understanding the psychological impacts of responding to a terrorist incident
title_fullStr	Understanding the psychological impacts of responding to a terrorist incident
title_full_unstemmed	Understanding the psychological impacts of responding to a terrorist incident
title_sort	understanding the psychological impacts of responding to a terrorist incident
publisher	Taylor & Francis Group
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/caa1c0fff6bb4f7a99a440162a69acd4
work_keys_str_mv	AT elenaaskryabina understandingthepsychologicalimpactsofrespondingtoaterroristincident AT naomibetts understandingthepsychologicalimpactsofrespondingtoaterroristincident AT richardamlot understandingthepsychologicalimpactsofrespondingtoaterroristincident AT gabrielreedy understandingthepsychologicalimpactsofrespondingtoaterroristincident
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Understanding the psychological impacts of responding to a terrorist incident

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