Correction published on 26 October 2021, see
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(21), 11235.
Comment published on 30 October 2021, see
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(21), 11421.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms among Journalists Repeatedly Covering COVID-19 News
Oxford Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1TW, UK
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Rosanna Cousins
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(16), 8536; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168536
Received: 14 July 2021
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Revised: 10 August 2021
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Accepted: 10 August 2021
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Published: 12 August 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Work-Related Stress Prevention and Management)
The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in many journalists repeatedly covering stories related to human suffering. This study investigates whether these journalists experienced higher rates of psychological distress, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depressive symptoms than those who have been working during the pandemic yet covering stories other than COVID-19 and aims to identify what factors may protect journalists from developing trauma-related symptoms. We assessed journalists (n = 120) working during the COVID-19 pandemic using self-report measures. Journalists repeatedly covering COVID-19 stories had significantly higher psychological distress (η2 = 0.04) and PTSD symptoms (η2 = 0.08), but not depression, compared to journalists who did not report on COVID-19. Rumination and numbing in response to unwanted memories predicted PTSD symptoms (R2 = 0.53) and may be risk factors for PTSD in this population. Unhelpful resilience appraisals distinguished journalists who reported on COVID-19 and who developed distressing re-experiencing symptoms from those who similarly reported on distressing material and who did not develop symptoms. Targeting resilience appraisals may be helpful in reducing re-experiencing symptoms after trauma exposure.
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Keywords:
PTSD; journalists; COVID-19; predictors
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
MDPI and ACS Style
Tyson, G.; Wild, J. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms among Journalists Repeatedly Covering COVID-19 News. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 8536. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168536
AMA Style
Tyson G, Wild J. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms among Journalists Repeatedly Covering COVID-19 News. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(16):8536. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168536
Chicago/Turabian StyleTyson, Gabriella, and Jennifer Wild. 2021. "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms among Journalists Repeatedly Covering COVID-19 News" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18, no. 16: 8536. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168536
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