The relationship between post-traumatic stress symptoms severity, coping style, perceived social support, extent of service experience, age, and gender within the Western Cape police service

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The effects that a traumatic event can have on an individual and the high crime rate inSouth Africa (SA) were grounds for this two-phase study investigating PosttraumaticStress Disorder (PTSD) symptom severity within the South African Police Service(SAPS). Two aims of the study were to investigate the relationship of six variables withthe outcome variable (PTSD symptom severity) and to construct a regression model thatcould be used to predict levels ofPTSD symptom severity amongst SAPS members. Athird aim was to construct a current list of duty-related stressors that SAPS members face.Phase one comprised 19 officers compiling a duty-related stress list that would form thebasis of the stressor questionnaire in phase two. Phase two comprised 97 officers in 12stations in the West Metropol completing a battery of questionnaires, including the PTSDSymptom Scale: Self-Report Version (Foa, Riggs, Dancu, & Rothbaum, 1993), the Waysof Coping Questionnaire (Folkman & Lazarus, 1988), the Multidimensional Scale ofPerceived Social Support (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988), an extent of serviceexperience questionnaire, and the duty-related stress list. The results from the regressionmodel showed perceived social support to have significant beneficial effects on PTSDsymptom severity as did emotion-focused coping. Problem-focused coping was found toexacerbate PTSD symptom severity. Regression model 1 and regression model 2 werefound to not significantly predict the outcome variable and the model of best fit wassuggested.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University