A Study of Dispatchers and PTSD Part 1

Thanks to Scott Pantall, a dispatcher from Colorado, I became aware of a published study linking dispatchers and PTSD.  As a regular reader of this blog knows, it is a point of concern for me personally. 

I pulled up the actual Brief Report study published in the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, written by Heather Pierce and Michelle M Lilly, both of Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University.

For the news article:    http://www.niutoday.info/2012/03/29/niu-psychology-study-links-9-1-1-dispatchers-with-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-symptoms/


For Brief Report published by the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies:  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jts.21687/full
What's really cool about this article and research, for me, is Heather Pierce worked for more than a decade as an emergency dispatcher and knows from personal experience how our job affects so many parts of our lives.

Co-Author Michelle Lilly is quoted, "the new research is the first published study to reveal the extent of on-duty emotional distress experienced by dispatchers."

Thought I might disagree with their findings that only 3.5 percent of the survey participants (171 on-the-job emergency dispatchers from 24 states) reported symptoms severe enough to qualify for a diagnosis of PTSD, I will be exploring their research and discuss it here further, Part 2.  Maybe Part 3.

And hope this opens the lines for further research about Dispatchers and PTSD.