Internationale Zeitschrift für psychische Notfallgesundheit und menschliche Resilienz

Abstrakt

Life after the Emergency Services: An Exploratory Study of Well Being and Quality of Life in Emergency Service Retirees

Bracken-Scally, M., McGilloway, S., Gallagher, S. and Mitchell, J.T.

Much is known about the negative impact of emergency services work, but no studies, to date, have investigated its long-term consequences. This cross-sectional study assesses the possible long-term effects on quality of life, of trauma exposure and emergency work in a sample of retirees from the Irish emergency services (n=169) and a comparison group of non-emergency service retirees (n=140). A multi-questionnaire postal survey was administered to assess quality of life (QoL; WHOQOL-BREF), experiences of trauma, and trauma symptoms (PSS-SR). QoL was significantly better in non-emergency retirees, whilst this group also had significantly fewer trauma symptoms. Incidents involving children were identified by a large proportion of emergency retirees as being particularly difficult to manage. The findings address a significant gap in our knowledge around the possible longer term effects of emergency services work in an often neglected sub-group. Factors associated with increased QoL and reduced symptoms of PTSD are discussed, as are some possible recommendations for the future.