Affiliations: [a]
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
| [b]
Department of Psychiatry, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| [c]
Department of Safety and Environment, Toronto Transit Commission Toronto, ON, Canada
| [d]
St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Rahel Eynan, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, The Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario in London, ON, Lawson Health Research Institute 750 Base Line Road East, Suite 105-7, London, ON N6C 2R5, Canada. Tel.: +1 519 685 8500 Ext: 74914; Fax: +1 519 434 6955; E-mail: Rahel.Eynan@lhsc.on.ca.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Transportation industry workers are at high risk for exposure to traumatic incidents in the workplace. A considerable number of those exposed to such incidents will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, which leads to high rates of absenteeism and are costly to the public transit corporation and workplace safety compensation insurance. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the newly implemented Best Practice Intervention (BPI) provides superior outcomeswhen compared with Treatment-as-Usual (TAU) interventions in improving workers’ rates of return to work (RTW), decreasing duration of time lost from work and overall reduction in severity of PTSD symptoms 6 months after exposure. METHODS: A sequential mixed methods approach was used with qualitative analysis followed by a pre-post intervention design. Sixty-two participants were recruited to the (TAU) phase of the study and 79 to the (BPI) phase. RESULTS: Significant differences were observed between the TAU and BPI groups in number of lost work days (TAU: 20 days vs. BPI: 52 days, p = 0.02). PTSD symptoms decreased with time (MPPS score: 51.3 vs. 24.35; p < 0.001). One-fifth of the participants (21 %) did not return to work by the end of the 6 months follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated the value of workplace interventions in improving awareness of psychological symptoms after exposure to a traumatic incident and the value of screening for PTSD symptoms.
Keywords: Workplace mental health, acute psychological trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, Best Practices Intervention, public transportation
