Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, and Prolonged Grief Disorder in Families Bereaved by a Traumatic Workplace Death: The Need for Satisfactory Information and Support

Abstract

The impact of traumatic workplace death on bereaved families, including their mental health and well-being, has rarely been systematically examined. This study aimed to document the rates and key correlates of probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder (MDD), and prolonged grief disorder (PGD) in family members following a workplace injury fatality. The hidden nature of the target population necessitated outreach recruitment techniques, including the use of social media, newspaper articles, radio interviews, and contact with major family support organizations. Data were collected using a cross-sectional design and international online survey. The PCL-C (PTSD), the PHQ-8 (MDD), and PG-13 (PGD) were used to measure mental health disorders. All are well-established self-report measures with strong psychometric qualities. Participants were from Australia (62%), Canada (17%), the USA (16%), and the UK (5%). The majority were females (89.9%), reflecting the gender distribution of traumatic workplace deaths (over 90% of fatalities are male). Most were partners/spouses (38.5%) or parents (35%) and over half (64%) were next of kin to the deceased worker. Most deaths occurred in the industries that regularly account for more than 70 percent of all industrial deaths—construction, manufacturing, transport, and agriculture forestry and fishing. At a mean of 6.40 years (SD = 5.78) post-death, 61 percent of participants had probable PTSD, 44 percent had probable MDD, and 43 percent had probable PGD. Logistic regressions indicated that a longer time since the death reduced the risk of having each disorder. Being next of kin and having a self-reported mental health history increased the risk of having MDD. Of the related information and support variables, having satisfactory support from family, support from a person to help navigate the post-death formalities, and satisfactory information about the death were associated with a decreased risk of probable PTSD, MDD, and PGD, respectively. The findings highlight the potential magnitude of the problem and the need for satisfactory information and support for bereaved families.

What Exactly Is “Complicated” Grief? A Scoping Research Literature Review to Understand Its Risk Factors and Prevalence

“…Nor can they be generalized to Danish people under the age of 65 who had a spouse die, or Danish people of any age who had someone other than a spouse die. Moreover, the findings of this Danish study and all but one other study (conducted in four developed countries by Matthews et al, 2019) cannot be generalized outside of the country where the research investigation was done. Each country and each residing social or cultural group is likely to be distinct in relation to who is at risk of PoP grief (Thomas et al, 2008).…”

“…Other studies revealed a higher rate, such as 30.3% among 468 bereaved military service people (Charney et al., 2018), 31.6% among 160 bereaved military personnel (Simon et al., 2018), 34.2% among bereaved substance abuse users at an addiction centre (Masferrer et al., 2018), and 43% among 148 persons who were bereaved over a trauma death (Matthews et al., 2019).…”

“…No reviewed studies involved children; all focused on adults, if not older adults. The people who were identified as having PoP grief varying considerably, these included older people who had had a spouse die (O’Connor et al., 2019), adults who had underage children or teenagers die (Huh et al., 2017; Yun et al., 2018), military personnel who had colleagues die (Charney et al., 2018; Simon et al., 2018), adults who had a friend or family member die by suicide (Bellini et al., 2018; Van de Venne et al., 2020), and adults who had a friend or family member die as a result of trauma (Matthews et al., 2019; Steil et al., 2019). Although not specifically identified as such, most of the deaths associated with PoP grief could be classified as sudden and unexpected.…”

“…Some findings were contradictory, such as time since the death. Two studies found a shorter grief time frame was linked with more severe grief (Boelen et al., 2019; Matthews et al., 2019). However, time was not identified as a factor in two studies where severe grief among parents was found long after the death of their child (Huh et al., 2017; Yun et al., 2018).…”

Hidden costs, hidden lives: Financial effects of fatal work injuries on families

“…The impact of a fatal work injury is profound, especially as the vast majority of those dying have spouses/partners and loved ones, including dependent children in many cases. In addition to the shock, grief, emotional turmoil, and logistical challenges of arranging the funeral and household matters, research has identified significant and often long-term suffering, including prolonged grief, depressive disorders, and post-traumatic stress (Matthews et al, 2019). Amid this disruption, families must adjust and re-orientate their finances and seek compensation through a complex and sometimes prolonged process that may alter their life circumstances permanently.…”