Risks of post-traumatic stress disorder among emergency medical technicians who responded to the 2016 Taiwan earthquake

Background Few studies have explored the field experiences and risk factors related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among disaster rescue workers. Methods A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck southern Taiwan on February 6, 2016. A standardized, paper-based, self-administered survey questionnaire including demographic information, field experiences and the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL) was conducted among emergency medical technicians (EMTs) one month after the earthquake. A multivariate regression model was used to analyze the associations between risk factors and the PCL. A two-sided p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The survey response rate was 86.1% (447/519). The respondents who exceeded the cut-off points for the re-experience, avoidance, or hyperarousal domains were 11.8%, 2.7%, or 4.7%, respectively. A proportion of 12.7% of respondents met partial PTSD. The personality characteristics of anxiety (p  Conclusions Not only personality characteristics but also the task components could alter the PTSD risks in disasters. A broad realization of these risks may improve the mental outcomes of disaster rescuers.