Psychiatria Danubina, Vol. 25 No. 3, 2013.
Original scientific paper
THE USE OF ASSESSMENT TOOLS IN A SAMPLE OF CROATIAN PROFESSIONAL FIRE-FIGHTERS
Dijana Poplašen
; Occupational Health Services, Public Health Care Centre of the Zagreb County, Samobor, Croatia
Darko Marčinko
; Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Zlatko Ulovec
; Department of Paediatric Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Vlatka Brumen
; Department of Managerial Systems & Work Environment, University of Applied Health Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia
Željko Verzak3
; Department of Paediatric Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Mladen Kratohvil
; Occupational Health Services, Public Health Care Centre of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Croatia, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Background: This article aims at testing of psychometric characteristics of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Defense
Style Questionnaire – 40 (DSQ-40) in a sample of Croatian professional fire-fighters, so as to justify their use in Occupational Health. A
pioneer effort to interrelate mental states and psychological job demands, ranked using the WAI questionnaire, was made as well.
Subjects and methods: Upon informed consent, the tools were tested on a sample of 300 members of the operative fire-fighting
squad of the City of Zagreb, all men (average age 43; average years of fire-fighting service 18.5). The participation was voluntary
and anonymous.
Results: The average BDI score was 2.34, revealing a low representation of depression in the target population. The score
indicating severe depression was seen in 0.7% of examinees only. Cronbach alpha of 0.92 showed satisfactory inner tool
consistency. As for DSQ-40, mature, neurotic and immature defence mechanisms were evaluated. The highest mean score of 75.24
(±26.07) was obtained with immature defence (Cronbach alpha 0.87). Self-assessed current working capacity was revealed to be
strongly dependent on total years of service (r=-0.134; p=0.021), while the representation of neurotic defence positively correlated
with the respondents’ age and total years of service. Immature defence strongly positively correlated with the total years of firefighting
service.
Conclusions: The employed tools were shown to be appropriate for use in Croatian professional fire-fighting population.
Nevertheless, the interrelations disclosed by this pioneer research should be investigated further.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
161200
URI
Publication date:
17.9.2013.
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