Social and occupational factors associated with psychological wellbeing among occupational groups affected by disaster: a systematic review

Abstract

1Social and occupational factors associated with psychological wellbeing among occupational groups affected by disaster: A systematic review ABSTRACT Background The psychological impact of experiencing disasters has been welldocumented; less attention has been paid to factors affecting the wellbeing of those exposed to disasters as part of occupational groups.Aims To conduct a systematic literature review identifying social and occupational factors affecting the wellbeing of disaster-exposed employees; to use these factors to identify recommendations for potential interventions Method Four electronic literature databases were searched and reference lists of relevant papers were hand-searched.Results 18,005 papers were found, 571 full texts were read and 36 included in the review. The psychological impact of disasters on employees appeared to be associated with pre-disaster factors (experience/training; income; life events/health; job satisfaction), peri-disaster factors (exposure; peri-traumatic experiences; perceptions of safety; injury to self or others), social factors (organisational support; social support generally) and post-disaster factors (impact on life). ConclusionsIt is important to build a resilient workforce outside of a crisis. Predisaster training in recognising signs of distress, understanding vulnerability factors such as those described above which may put certain employees at greater risk of distress, coping strategies and how to support colleagues may be useful. Further research into the effectiveness of post-disaster interventions is needed.

A Systematic, Thematic Review of Social and Occupational Factors Associated With Psychological Outcomes in Healthcare Employees During an Infectious Disease Outbreak

“…Firstly, it appeared that training, and consequential feelings of preparedness, were protective of mental health. This is unsurprising as perceived adequacy of training and feelings of preparedness have been associated with more positive psychological wellbeing in humanitarian relief workers, disaster responders and trauma-exposed employees in general 6,7,8 . In particular, the increased confidence in ability to do one's job as a result of specialised training appeared to be protective.…”

“…Factors only described in one paper were excluded as it was unclear whether there was any support for these factors; any factors described in two or more papers were included as we felt that given the small number of papers, this was sufficientor at least worth exploring. Previous reviews have used a similar method of accepting any predictive factor mentioned by at least two studies 6,7,8 . If disagreements between studies were found then both viewpoints were discussed.…”

“…Although there has now been much research published identifying the psychological effects of working in healthcare during such an outbreak 5 , there has to date not been a systematic literature review of the various risk factors which may make certain workers more susceptible to mental health problems. Previous reviews of the psychological impact of disasters and extreme events on various employees (including deployed humanitarian relief workers, disaster responders and nonroutinely trauma-exposed employees who experience a disaster) have identified several common social and occupational factors predicting psychological outcomes 6,7,8 . These include training and preparedness; extent of traumatic exposure; social support; job demands; perceptions of safety or risk; and impact on personal life.…”

Trajectories of psychological stress among public servants after the Great East Japan Earthquake

“…A recent systematic review of occupational groups affected by disaster (Brooks et al, 2017) suggested that pre-disaster experiences, job satisfaction, traumatic exposure, perception of safety, harm to self/close others, social support, and post-disaster impact on life were important to all workers. In terms of public servants, government staff who were in close proximity to disasters including terror attacks showed greater prevalence of low mental health, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, depression, and alcohol abuse (Grieger et al, 2004(Grieger et al, , 2005Hansen et al, 2013;Jordan et al, 2004) than those who were not.…”

“…In Japan, public servants are often criticised by the public in everyday circumstances because many Japanese people believe that public servants are stable in various aspects, such as employment, salary, and social security. In terms of social factors in times of disaster, workers received a lack of positive acknowledgement from others, which was associated with low mental health (Brooks et al, 2017). Therefore, Japanese public servants in disaster areas would be more susceptible to low mental health than would be those with other occupations, because of proximity to the disaster and a lack of social acknowledgement.…”