Robberies are traumatizing events for workers, consequently a number of health problems can arise. In the short term, a common reaction is post-traumatic stress (including intrusion, avoidance and hyperarousal symptoms). The aim of the present study was to identify, among pre-trauma factors (personal characteristics: gender, age, educational level and prior exposure to robberies) and peri-trauma factors (kind of weapon, duration of the event, number of robbers, numbers of colleagues and clients involved), those that were most likely to cause post-traumatic symptoms in a sample of bank employees who were victims of robbery. Two banks in north-west Italy were involved in the research. A month after the robbery, 175 bank employees completed a self-report questionnaire including the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) by Weiss and Marmar [39]. Analyses showed one pre-trauma factor (prior exposure to robbery/ies) and one peri-trauma factor (number of robbers) as significant predictors of intrusion; in the case of avoidance two peri-trauma factors (number of robbers and duration of robbery) were identified; lastly, one pre-trauma factor (prior exposure to robbery/ies) and two peri-trauma factors (number of robbers and number of colleagues involved in the robbery) were found to be predictors of hyperarousal. The results showed that several peri-trauma factors can increase the risk for worker to develop post-traumatic stress reaction and suggest that these factors should be kept in mind when planning intervention programmes aimed at preventing and contrasting psychological consequences of robbery.

La reazione post-traumatica tra bancari vittime di rapina sul luogo di lavoro: il ruolo dei fattori pre-trauma e peri-trauma

CONVERSO, Daniela;VIOTTI, SARA
2014-01-01

Abstract

Robberies are traumatizing events for workers, consequently a number of health problems can arise. In the short term, a common reaction is post-traumatic stress (including intrusion, avoidance and hyperarousal symptoms). The aim of the present study was to identify, among pre-trauma factors (personal characteristics: gender, age, educational level and prior exposure to robberies) and peri-trauma factors (kind of weapon, duration of the event, number of robbers, numbers of colleagues and clients involved), those that were most likely to cause post-traumatic symptoms in a sample of bank employees who were victims of robbery. Two banks in north-west Italy were involved in the research. A month after the robbery, 175 bank employees completed a self-report questionnaire including the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) by Weiss and Marmar [39]. Analyses showed one pre-trauma factor (prior exposure to robbery/ies) and one peri-trauma factor (number of robbers) as significant predictors of intrusion; in the case of avoidance two peri-trauma factors (number of robbers and duration of robbery) were identified; lastly, one pre-trauma factor (prior exposure to robbery/ies) and two peri-trauma factors (number of robbers and number of colleagues involved in the robbery) were found to be predictors of hyperarousal. The results showed that several peri-trauma factors can increase the risk for worker to develop post-traumatic stress reaction and suggest that these factors should be kept in mind when planning intervention programmes aimed at preventing and contrasting psychological consequences of robbery.
2014
105
4
243
254
Bank-robbery; violence at work; pre-trauma factors
Daniela Converso; Sara Viotti
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/147953
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