Psychological functioning following an acute disaster.

Abstract

We investigated personal and organizational functioning following an acute disaster in an explosives factory in which 14 people were killed and 14 others were injured. Multivariate analyses of covariance (controlling for age and organizational tenure) assessed whether there were any differences between the experimental group (40 individuals physically exposed to the explosion) and two control groups (one from the same site performing a different job, the second from a separate site performing the same job; n = 76 and n = 40, respectively). During the 2nd week following the blast and 2 months afterward, there were no between-group differences in terms of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, marital satisfaction, or psychological distress. Failure to find any differences was attributed to the acute (as opposed to chronic) nature of the disaster. At both time periods, family support was correlated with personal functioning, whereas supervisory support was associated with job satisfaction; this is discussed in terms of the source of the stressor being consistent with the source of the support and the nature of the outcome.

Moderating role of social support in the stressor-satisfaction relationship: evidence from police officers in Korea

“…That is, the analysis results suggest that social support has only main effects (i.e., direct influence) on job satisfaction in the case of Korean police officers. These results are consistent with those of previous research supporting the main effects of social support (Kaufman & Beehr, 1981;LaRocco & Jones, 1978) and no buffering effects of social support (Barling, Bluen, & Fain, 1987;LaRocco, House, & French, 1980). Of course, it has been demonstrated by scholars that social support may interact with job stress and have a buffering effect (Beehr et al, 1990;Ok & Kim, 2001), but this research suggests that supervisor support and coworker support are likely to directly enhance police officers' job satisfaction without interacting with job stress.…”

Factors in the victim that mediate between disaster and psychopathology: A review

“…It is possible that either interview or behavioral measures of number of marital or family quarrels relating to the disaster might have found there to be effects (McFarlane, 1987). Barling et al (1987) reach similar conclusions to the lack of findings of distress after an explosion at a South African explosives factory; they suggest researchers use measures specific to the areas likely to be impacted by the stress.…”

Community Response to Disaster: The Role of the Workplace

“…The psychological impact of these disasters has been well documented elsewhere. [31][32][33] All of these disasters, whether natural or man-made, actual or hoax, have two things in common: workplace communities are significantly disrupted, and the impact is costly in both human and economic terms. There is, of course, the initial loss of life, physical injuries, and disruption of business.…”