Explanatory factors of post-traumatic distress and burnout among hospital staff 6 months after Hurricane Irma in Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthelemy

Damien Metregiste, Denis Boucaud-Maitre, Lyderic Aubert, Lazare Noubou and Louis Jehel

PLOS ONE, 2020, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: Background: In September 2017, the Hurricane Irma devastated the islands of Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthelemy (French West Indies). This was a particularly distressing time for the local healthcare staff in charge of rescuing the population. The aim of this study was to identify the explanatory factors of post-traumatic distress and burnout in hospital staff. Methods: An anonymous questionnaire was sent to all 509 hospital workers of Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthelemy. Post-traumatic distress and burnout was assessed using the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-S) and Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) scales. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine the explanatory variables for these two psychological disorders. Results: Two hundred and sixty-two questionnaires were completed (response rate of 51.7%). The explanatory factors of post-traumatic distress were female gender (OR = 12.93, 95% CI: 2.70–232.10), electricity shortages (OR = 2.92, 95% CI: 1.13–8.19) and home damage (OR = 1.16, 95% CI [1.02–1.33]). In parallel, the explanatory factors of burnout were post-traumatic distress (OR: 10.42, 95% CI: 4.72–25.58), female gender (OR = 2,41, 95% CI: 1.24–5.02) and paramedical staff (OR = 2,53, 95% CI: 1.15–6.21). In the multivariate analysis, only burnout was significantly associated with post-traumatic distress (OR = 9.26, 95% CI: 4.11–23.14). Conclusions: Six months after Irma, post-traumatic distress among hospital staff was strongly linked to burnout. This study revealed the lack of electricity as a new factor related to post-traumatic distress. It also suggested that psychological intervention should be strengthened.

Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0229246 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 29246&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0229246

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229246

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().