Recently, South Korea saw an increase in the number of subway-related fatalities and accidents as a result of the incidents involving falls from the platform edge.
The incidents were certainly linked to South Korea's sharp increase in suicide rate. ...
Recently, South Korea saw an increase in the number of subway-related fatalities and accidents as a result of the incidents involving falls from the platform edge.
The incidents were certainly linked to South Korea's sharp increase in suicide rate. Yet, the numbers of deaths and injuries from the subway incidents continue to grow, researchers have not paid sufficient attention to the mental health of the subway operators who experienced "person under train (PUT)" incidents. Especially, there are few studies that focus on the factors involved in the "post-traumatic stress disorder" (PTSD) which the operators are suffering from after the PUT events.
Subway operators are required to be highly alert on duty so as to be able to deal with an event that occurs without any forewarning. Hence, they are constantly exposed to stress factors at work. Since subway operators are in charge of the lives of hundreds of passengers at all time during the train operation, it can be asserted that the experience of PUT may pose a serious threat to the mental health of the operators, as well as to the safety of the passengers' lives.
In this respect, it seems highly to discover the factors that can influence the PTSD symptoms the subway operators with the PUT experience are suffering from and to develop education and intervention programs for their recovery.
This study aims to draw social welfare implications for the purpose of preventing the subway operators after the PUT events from PTSD and helping them recover from it by investigating the population sociological characteristics of those operators who already experienced the PUT incidents, the nature of their trauma incidents, the depression, the social support, the stress coping strategy, etc. and analyzing the factors that contributed to the occurrence of PTSD.
The study group was recruited among the subway operators working at the Seoul Metro Line number 2. A complete enumeration was administrated to 800 operators from March 23 to April 17, 2009. Of the 445 repliers, 240 had experienced the PUT incident at least once. This study utilized the 240 replies to investigate the characteristics of their experience of on-duty accidents that had caused deaths and injuries, the characteristics of their personal trauma experience, their population sociological characteristics, and examine the forms of their depression and the stress coping strategy, the social support, and PTSD symptoms.
This study used "Impact of Event Scale Revised Korean version (IES-R-K)" primarily developed by Horowitz et al. (1979) and translated into Korean by Hun-jung Eun et al. (2005), and "the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)" developed by US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and translated into Korean by Maeng-je Cho and Kye-hee Kim (1993). The Brief COPE, which was developed by Carver (1997) and translated by myself and another social welfare expert, was used for examining the stress coping strategy. In order to access the social support "the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS)" developed by Zimet et al. (1988) was used.
The following conclusions have been drawn from the study:
First, in regard to the general characteristics of the study subjects, this study has found that the level of PTSD among train operators is higher than that among conductors or those in other occupations. Furthermore, PTSD symptoms become more serious as they work more hours after the PUT incidents, or as they do not actively participate in leisure activities.
Second, in regard to the characteristics of the study subjects' experience of on-duty accidents involving deaths and injuries, the study has shown that PTSD symptoms become more serious when the accident involves death. It is also in direct proportion to the degree of pain that the person on duty personally perceives at the time of accident.
Third, in regard to the characteristics of the study subjects' indirect experience of accidents associated with their occupation, the study has discovered that PTSD symptoms become worse as they feel psychological pressure when they are informed of the death or injury of their colleagues. In this respect, it seems necessary to pay attention to and intervene in vicarious trauma.
Fourth, the study subjects showed serious PTSD symptoms when they used in dealing with stress a problem-focused or a dysfunctional strategy more than an emotion-focused strategy. In particular, this study has discovered that PTSD symptoms become worse when such a dysfunctional method as denial, avoidance, or self-devaluation is adopted.
The above conclusions have the following implications.
First, a theoretical implication is the fact that by confining the study to the accident cases involving deaths and injuries for the purpose of investigating the reality of PTSD, this study can contribute to the discernment of concrete and multiple variables with respect to the circumstance that subway operators are more susceptible to PTSD after the PUT incidents. Apart from the existing studies undertaken in other countries on the mental health of subway operators, this study has discovered the fact that the level of "avoidance" ranks highest among PTSD subcategories, which can be seen as the characteristic of South Korean subway operators.
Second, this study's practical implication consists in its capability of contributing to the development of counselling and education programs more appropriate in the South Korean context through verifying concrete variables that can influence the PTSD symptoms that the South Korean subway operators suffer from after the PUT incidents.
Third, this study contains an implication in terms of social welfare policy, in that it has illumined the procedural characteristics in dealing with death and injury accidents that may negatively impact the subway operators with PTSD after the accidents, as well as the characteristic variables of forms of support. As a result, the study has found it necessary to provide more systematized and individualized forms of support that are to be officially arranged in consideration of company, fellow structure, and family unit. Since this study confirms the necessity for prevention and recovery of PTSD and this study can contribute to the preparation of institutional support to encourage the subway operators with PUT experiences to recover their psychosocial health.
|
