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BRINGING THE TRAUMA HOME: SPOUSES OF PARAMEDICS

ABSTRACT Paramedics are exposed to events involving suffering and tragedy and consequently may experience posttraumatic stress symptoms and depression. Family support is a primary mediator of these reactions, yet family members may be vulnerable to transmitted stress and distress. This qualitative study explores the impact of trauma exposure on spouses of paramedics. Issues identified included managing everyday job stress, safety fears, and dealing with the paramedic's emotional reactivity and emotional withdrawal from family members following trauma exposure. Organizational support systems that have been developed for emergency workers generally neglect family members at the risk of depleting this important resource. Author Note Cheryl Regehr is a professor of social work at the University of Toronto. She is also the director of the Centre for Applied Social Research at the University of Toronto and a faculty member in the Faculty of Law and the Institute for Medical Sciences. She holds the Sandra Rotman Chair in Social Work Practice. Her practice background includes direct service in mental health, sexual assault recovery programs, and sex offender treatment programs and in administration of community and emergency mental health programs and sexual assault care centers. Dr. Regehr's program of research involves examining aspects of recovery from trauma in such diverse populations as victims of rape; firefighters, police, and ambulance workers witnessing traumatic events; and child welfare workers. Her publications address both issues of trauma and the interface between the law and mental health.