Associations between trauma and substance use among healthcare workers and public safety personnel during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic: the mediating roles of dissociation and emotion dysregulation
Background: Given the highly stressful environment surrounding the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, healthcare workers (HCW) and public safety personnel (PSP) are at an elevated risk for adverse psychological outcomes, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol/substance use problems. As such, t...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2023-12-01
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| Series: | European Journal of Psychotraumatology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2023.2180706 |
| _version_ | 1797844559269462016 |
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| author | Herry Patel Bethany Easterbrook Andrea M. D'Alessandro-Lowe Krysta Andrews Kimberly Ritchie Fardous Hosseiny Sara Rodrigues Ann Malain Charlene O’Connor Hugo Schielke Randi E. McCabe Andrew A. Nicholson Ruth Lanius Margaret C. McKinnon |
| author_facet | Herry Patel Bethany Easterbrook Andrea M. D'Alessandro-Lowe Krysta Andrews Kimberly Ritchie Fardous Hosseiny Sara Rodrigues Ann Malain Charlene O’Connor Hugo Schielke Randi E. McCabe Andrew A. Nicholson Ruth Lanius Margaret C. McKinnon |
| author_sort | Herry Patel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Given the highly stressful environment surrounding the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, healthcare workers (HCW) and public safety personnel (PSP) are at an elevated risk for adverse psychological outcomes, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol/substance use problems. As such, the study aimed to identify associations between PTSD severity, related dissociation and emotion dysregulation symptoms, and alcohol/substance use problems among HCWs and PSP. Methods: A subset of data (N = 498; HCWs = 299; PSP = 199) was extracted from a larger study examining psychological variables among Canadian HCWs and PSP during the pandemic. Structural equation modelling assessed associations between PTSD symptoms and alcohol/substance use-related problems with dissociation and emotion dysregulation as mediators. Results: Among HCWs, dissociation fully mediated the relation between PTSD and alcohol-related problems (indirect effect β = .133, p = .03) and emotion dysregulation partially mediated the relation between PTSD and substance-related problems (indirect effect β = .151, p = .046). In PSP, emotion dysregulation fully mediated the relation between PTSD and alcohol-related problems (indirect effects β = .184, p = .005). For substance-related problems among PSP, neither emotion dysregulation nor dissociation (ps >.05) had any effects. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study examining associations between PTSD severity and alcohol/substance use-related problems via mediating impacts of emotion dysregulation and dissociation among HCWs and PSP during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. These findings highlight dissociation and emotion dysregulation as important therapeutic targets for structured interventions aimed at reducing the burden of PTSD and/or SUD among Canadian HCWs or PSP suffering from the adverse mental health impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T17:25:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e14f9cc3c12b43af929aa64b77c04e73 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2000-8066 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T17:25:24Z |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of Psychotraumatology |
| spelling | doaj.art-e14f9cc3c12b43af929aa64b77c04e732023-04-18T14:59:08ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEuropean Journal of Psychotraumatology2000-80662023-12-0114110.1080/20008066.2023.21807062180706Associations between trauma and substance use among healthcare workers and public safety personnel during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic: the mediating roles of dissociation and emotion dysregulationHerry Patel0Bethany Easterbrook1Andrea M. D'Alessandro-Lowe2Krysta Andrews3Kimberly Ritchie4Fardous Hosseiny5Sara Rodrigues6Ann Malain7Charlene O’Connor8Hugo Schielke9Randi E. McCabe10Andrew A. Nicholson11Ruth Lanius12Margaret C. McKinnon13McMaster UniversityMcMaster UniversityMcMaster UniversityMcMaster UniversityMcMaster UniversityThe Atlas Institute for Veterans and FamiliesThe Atlas Institute for Veterans and FamiliesHomewood Health CareHomewood Health CareHomewood Health CareMcMaster UniversityMcMaster UniversityWestern UniversityMcMaster UniversityBackground: Given the highly stressful environment surrounding the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, healthcare workers (HCW) and public safety personnel (PSP) are at an elevated risk for adverse psychological outcomes, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol/substance use problems. As such, the study aimed to identify associations between PTSD severity, related dissociation and emotion dysregulation symptoms, and alcohol/substance use problems among HCWs and PSP. Methods: A subset of data (N = 498; HCWs = 299; PSP = 199) was extracted from a larger study examining psychological variables among Canadian HCWs and PSP during the pandemic. Structural equation modelling assessed associations between PTSD symptoms and alcohol/substance use-related problems with dissociation and emotion dysregulation as mediators. Results: Among HCWs, dissociation fully mediated the relation between PTSD and alcohol-related problems (indirect effect β = .133, p = .03) and emotion dysregulation partially mediated the relation between PTSD and substance-related problems (indirect effect β = .151, p = .046). In PSP, emotion dysregulation fully mediated the relation between PTSD and alcohol-related problems (indirect effects β = .184, p = .005). For substance-related problems among PSP, neither emotion dysregulation nor dissociation (ps >.05) had any effects. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first study examining associations between PTSD severity and alcohol/substance use-related problems via mediating impacts of emotion dysregulation and dissociation among HCWs and PSP during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. These findings highlight dissociation and emotion dysregulation as important therapeutic targets for structured interventions aimed at reducing the burden of PTSD and/or SUD among Canadian HCWs or PSP suffering from the adverse mental health impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2023.2180706traumadissociationemotion dysregulationalcoholsubstance use |
| spellingShingle | Herry Patel Bethany Easterbrook Andrea M. D'Alessandro-Lowe Krysta Andrews Kimberly Ritchie Fardous Hosseiny Sara Rodrigues Ann Malain Charlene O’Connor Hugo Schielke Randi E. McCabe Andrew A. Nicholson Ruth Lanius Margaret C. McKinnon Associations between trauma and substance use among healthcare workers and public safety personnel during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic: the mediating roles of dissociation and emotion dysregulation European Journal of Psychotraumatology trauma dissociation emotion dysregulation alcohol substance use |
| title | Associations between trauma and substance use among healthcare workers and public safety personnel during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic: the mediating roles of dissociation and emotion dysregulation |
| title_full | Associations between trauma and substance use among healthcare workers and public safety personnel during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic: the mediating roles of dissociation and emotion dysregulation |
| title_fullStr | Associations between trauma and substance use among healthcare workers and public safety personnel during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic: the mediating roles of dissociation and emotion dysregulation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Associations between trauma and substance use among healthcare workers and public safety personnel during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic: the mediating roles of dissociation and emotion dysregulation |
| title_short | Associations between trauma and substance use among healthcare workers and public safety personnel during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic: the mediating roles of dissociation and emotion dysregulation |
| title_sort | associations between trauma and substance use among healthcare workers and public safety personnel during the sars cov 2 covid 19 pandemic the mediating roles of dissociation and emotion dysregulation |
| topic | trauma dissociation emotion dysregulation alcohol substance use |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2023.2180706 |
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