Moderating effects of empathic concern and personal distress on the emotional reactions of disaster volunteers

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3898151
AutoresIoana A Cristea (0000-0002-9854-7076, Research Fellow in the Department of Surgical, Medical, Molecular and Critical Pathology University of Pisa Pisa Italy), Emanuele Legge (Director of Staff Psychology in the Service of Psychology Local Health District L'Aquila Italy), Marta Prosperi (Staff Psychologist in the Service of Psychology Local Health District L'Aquila Italy), Mario Guazzelli ((1948–2012) was Full Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Pisa Pisa Italy), Daniel David (0000-0002-9081-423X, Professor in the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Babes‐Bolyai University Cluj‐Napoca Romania), Oana David (0000-0001-8706-1778, Babeș-Bolyai University), Claudio Gentili (0000-0002-2579-8755, Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgical, Medical, Molecular and Critical Pathology University of Pisa Pisa Italy, autor de correspondencia)
Año2014
Volumen38
Número4
Páginas740-752
Fecha de publicación2014-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaDisasters (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0361-3666 • E-ISSN: 1467-7717
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/disa.12075
PMID25196334
OpenAlexW2010718188
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7
Referencias citadas20

This study examines stress and mood outcomes in community volunteers who undertook one week's worth of post-disaster relief work in L'Aquila, Italy, which had been hit by an earthquake four months earlier. The study team obtained pre- and post-relief work data from 130 volunteers involved in activities such as preparing food for the displaced, cleaning the camps and distributing clean linen. The Perceived Stress Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Profile of Mood States were administered at the start and at the end of the aid activities. Psychopathological symptoms and empathy were assessed in the beginning, using the Symptom Checklist 90 Revised and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, respectively. The results show that, following the assistance work, volunteers displayed decreases in perceived stress, general distress, anxiety and anger, as well as increases in positive emotions. The empathy facets empathic concern and personal distress showed different patterns in modulating the post-disaster relief work adaptation for some of the mood outcomes

Anger · Anxiety · Distress · Empathic concern · Empathy · Interpersonal Reactivity Index · Medical emergency · Mood · Personal distress · Poison control · Psychiatry · Psychopathology · Clinical Psychology · Disaster Response and Management · Medicine · Migration, Health and Trauma · Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research · Psychology