Professional quality of life and indicators of PTSD symptoms in adult and child- and adolescent mental care units; Prelimenary results

Unique Reference Number: 19700101-3435-0350 Submission for : Poster Subtheme : Impact of violence including psychological, professional, ethical, economic, financial, legal, social, and political issues Title : Professional Quality of Life and Symptoms of PTSD in Adult and Child- and Adolescent Mental Care Units Abstract : Background: In child- and adolescence mental health care institutions, a high level of aggression is common. Being forced to manage and treat young violent patients often provokes adverse feelings and negative workplace experience which often causes feelings of fear, anxiety and other emotionally sequelae. This is reported to interfere with the therapeutic or professional capacity. Little research has examined the impact of exposure to aggression in working within child and adolescent inpatient units. This seems to be a paradox since the therapeutic relationship is deemed the most powerful 'tool-of-the-trade' within child- and adolescence mental health care. The authors have explored the same questions in a Norwegian high security hospital, and will continue to do so, using an electronic survey method. The preliminary data from a security hospital is presented, togheter with a description of the methods and objectives for the child- and adolescent menta l health worker study. Objective: The aim of this study is to explore the relationships between, and occurrence of, job satisfaction, burnout and symptoms of post traumatic stress among milieu therapists working in child- and adolescent mental health care where there is a high frequency of violence. This happens in parallel with a replication of earlier studies on a high security ward, and the results will be used to illuminate each other in the poster. A third objective is to compare the forthcoming results with a Swiss study, towards which a third questionnaire is introduced. Methods: The study will be cross-sectional using three questionnaires. Post Traumatic Check List - Civilian version (PCL-C), the Impact of Events Scale- Revised (IES-R) and Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQoL). The survey is to be administered anonymously among milieu therapists at two child- and adolescent mental health care units, and to all ward staff at a Norwegian high Security Hospital. 2 educational goals : 1. To expand the knowledge of the impact of working in a high violence environment while providing care (individual level. 2. To provide information needed to plan and take care of Health, mileau and security factors in mental health services (systemic/organizational level).