Professional paper
Sources of psychological stress and psychological support to firefighters after the earthquake in Sisak-Moslavina County in 2020
Zoran Šimić
; Ministarstvo pravosuđa, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
An earthquake of 6.2 magnitude shook the Sisak-Moslavina County. Seven people were killed and over 2,000 buildings were demolished. Firefighters from the hit area were the first to go out into the field and face the aftermath of the earthquake. During earthquake remediation, firefighters encounter highly stressful and potentially traumatic situations. They are exposed to various sources of stress that have a negative impact on their physical and mental health. The negative impact of psychological stress was particularly pronounced among firefighters from the area hit by the earthquake as they found themselves in a dual role, as victims and as rescuers. Firefighters were provided with psychological support directly in the field and several psychological crisis interventions were conducted with firefighters who were directly exposed to highly stressful and potentially traumatic situations. The goal of psychological support is to alleviate the effects of psychological stress, and to prevent the occurrence of severe psychological difficulties. Such and similar crisis situations show that it is necessary to develop an effective system of prevention and psychological support to firefighters in crisis situations in the firefighting system.
Keywords
psychological help; earthquake; firefighters; psychological stress
Hrčak ID:
261413
URI
Publication date:
28.6.2021.
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