Barbro Renck

Stress reactions in police officers after a disaster rescue operation.

This study intended to determine the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and to report subjective well-being, general distress, and social functioning among police officers 18 months after a rescue operation during a fire at a discotheque. Emotional responses, including self-reported reactions, recorded during and after the fire were analysed. Forty-one police officers participated in the study. They completed a questionnaire and a battery of self-report measures. Psychological distress was recorded using the PTSS-10, IES-R, and GHQ-28. The three scales had a high internal consistency. The police officers were not unaffected by their experiences, and a few officers were still under stress. One police officer had IES-R intrusion and an avoidance score greater than 20, suggesting a stress reaction of clinical significance. When compared with the PTSS-10 scale, two (5%) officers showed a high level of psychological distress. Measured with the GHQ-28, three officers (7%) still had a high level of psychological distress. On one of the four different subscales most of the officers show various degrees of reduced social functioning. Debriefing was carried out by the police department after the fire, and 75% thought debriefing was positive. Eighteen months after the disaster a few police officers are still under stress.

'It is still so deep-seated, the fear': psychological stress reactions as consequences of intimate partner violence

The negative mental health consequences of intimate partner violence have been well documented in recent years. One aim of the present study was to examine psychological distress and mental problems in assaulted women who have left their relationships. Another aim was to explore these womens sense of coherence (SOC). A combination of qualitative in-depth interviews and quantitative measurement instruments was used. Data were collected from 14 assaulted women with a mean age of 38, living in different places in Sweden. Impact of event scale-revised and symptom checklist-90-R show that the violence creates long-term psychological stress reactions and confirm previous research on the subject. Twelve of the 14 women have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The result of the interviews confirmed complex PTSD and disorders of extreme stress not otherwise specified. On the other hand we found a surprisingly high SOC level among several of the respondents, a fact which could explain why these women finally managed to leave mainly by their own efforts. We call for more both qualitative and quantitative studies on this serious public health issue.

Intimate partner violence and the leaving process: Interviews with abused women

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global health problem. Previous studies show the complexity of a violent relationship and provide different explanations for the reasons why the woman do not leave. Recently the focus has also been on to women who in fact leave their violent relationships. There is a call for more research on the leaving process to identify key factors potentially amenable for intervention. With aid of constructivist grounded theory, within a Swedish context and through qualitative in-depth interviews, the aim was to increase the understanding of abused womens experience of leaving heterosexual violent relationships. The findings show that Fear is a central theme and phenomenon in the Process of leaving a violent relationship. Fear is described in many different ways and the analysis shows that these feelings function as both restraining and releasing factors. Three key categories, Restraining break up, Balancing between staying and leaving and Releasing turning point, were found and these could be related to the core category, Fearfulness as a driving force to leave.