Personal and environmental predictors of posttraumatic stress in emergency management professionals.

Among first responders and other emergency workers in the disaster ecology, an understudied group is that of emergency management professionals (EMP). These individuals share many of the same role conflicts and ambiguities as do health care workers and as a group have been part of national discussions about their role in post-Katrina recovery. Though they have frequent exposures to professional stressors, little is known about the personality traits, cultural issues, and role conflicts that might contribute to their ability to withstand posttraumatic stress symptoms or to grow from their work roles. This research explored 3 models that attempt to explain how previously identified personality traits and role issues such as trauma exposure, burnout, and compassion satisfaction among similar helpers and first responders might predict posttraumatic stress symptoms in EMPs. A sample of 197 participants was recruited using an online methodology, and data were analyzed using hierarchical regression. The results supported a model containing neuroticism and extraversion, trauma exposure frequency, burnout, and compassion satisfaction, accounting for the most variance in predicting PTSD symptoms. Neuroticism, burnout, and compassion satisfaction were found to be significant individual positive predictors, whereas ethnic identity did not significantly contribute to variance or serve as a moderator with trauma exposure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)