OBJECTIVES: Social workers can suffer from occupational stress resulting from dealing with clients, which might lead to metal health problems. We aimed to investigate the association of duty-related traumatic experiences and stress coping strategies with posttraumatic stress symptoms among social workers in public sector. METHODS: A total of 110 social workers in public sector (men 30.9%, 36.5 +/- 7.6 yrs) participated in this study. All subjects were evaluated the frequency and the impact of duty-related traumatic events. Additionally, they completed questionnaires including the Impact of Event Scale-Revised for post-traumatic stress symptoms, the Beck Depression Inventory-II for depressive symptoms, the Scale for Suicidal Ideation for suicide symptoms and the Ways of Coping Checklist for stress coping strategies. RESULTS: The most frequent traumatic events were "Violent or abusive language from a client" (95.0%) and "Client made a fuss" (94.5%). The most distressing traumatic event was "Seeing a dead body on duty" (7.6 out of 10), which predicted post-traumatic stress symptoms (odds ratio 4.04 ; 95% confidence interval, 1.79-9.11). Among 4 types of stress coping strategies, the emotion-focused coping was positively correlated with post-traumatic stress symptoms after controlling age and sex (beta = 0.50, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Social workers in public sector showed high level of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Duty-related traumatic events and the emotional-focused coping strategies were associated with the severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms. The modification of stress coping strategies would alleviate post-traumatic stress symptoms in social workers in public sector.
Checklist ; Depression ; Public Sector* ; Social Workers* ; Suicidal Ideation ; Suicide ; Surveys and Questionnaires

To substantiate psychological symptoms following humidifier disinfectant (HD) disasters, counseling records of 26 victims and 92 family members of victims (45 were bereaved) were analyzed retrospectively. Among the victims, 34.6% had Clinical Global Impression-Severity scores of over 4, which meant they were moderately ill. While anxiety/fear and depression with respiratory symptoms were frequently observed in victims and family members, chronic psychological distress such as alcohol/smoking abuse and insomnia was relatively high in bereaved family members. In conclusion, it is important to provide mental health support for victims and their families, focusing on the characteristic symptoms of each group as well as monetary compensation.
Compensation and Redress ; Counseling ; Depression ; Disaster Victims* ; Disasters* ; Humans ; Humidifiers* ; Mental Health ; Retrospective Studies ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders

Objectives: This study examined post-disaster mental health problems and related public perception of disaster-related mental health services. The differences of these perceptions according to the disaster experience and disaster type were also investigated. Methods: Data were collected via telephone and online surveys, and information from 2928 respondents was analyzed. The participants were allocated across age, sex, and residence area. Results: Those who had experienced disasters showed a more negative perception of post-disaster mental health services than those who had not. While natural disaster survivors most often reported financial problems as secondary stressors after a disaster, social disaster survivors were more likely to report mental health problems. Regarding national mental health support for disaster, disaster-experiencing respondents more often tended to prefer mental health services than non-disaster-experiencing respondents. Conclusion The current study can help understand the public perception of disaster-related mental health and the needs of mental health services. These findings could suggest directions and grounds for policies of a national support system for disaster-related mental health.

Objectives: This study aimed to propose an efficient mental health service plan to be implemented during epidemics by identifying the mental health characteristics of people who have returned from countries with large-scale coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks. Methods: We analyzed the mental health evaluation scale data submitted by 504 quarantined people who had returned from countries hit by the COVID-19 pandemic from January to April 2020 through a government support project. Results: The average age of the study group was 35.6±8.72 years, and males accounted for 67.1% and females 32.9% of the total subjects. The screening score for post-traumatic stress disorder was met by 12.1% of the subjects. Moderate to high level of depression and anxiety symptoms were seen in 10.7% and 7.0%, respectively. Also, 2.2% of the group complained of clinical level somatization symptoms, and 1.4% were evaluated as being at a high risk of suicide. The average scores and the proportion of subjects at high risk on all scales were significantly higher in female than in male. In a comparison by age, the average score of post-traumatic stress symptoms was significantly higher in subjects in their 20s than those in their 50s, and the proportion of the subjects at high risk for post-traumatic stress symptoms also showed a significant variation between age groups. However, there were no significant differences by age with respect to depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms, and suicidal tendencies. Conclusion During an epidemic, the mental health problems of people may increase, and the risk appears to be higher in female and young adults. Therefore, in addition to strong protection policies, a customized support system for each target group is required.