Psychiatric symptoms and psychosocial functioning among hospital personnel during the Gaza War: A repeated cross–sectional study

Ben-Ezra, Menachem; Palgi, Yuval; Wolf, Jonathan Jacob; Shrira, Amit

Studies of mental health among hospital personnel during armed conflict are scarce and usually include single time point investigations without a comparison group. The authors compared the psychiatric symptoms and psychosocial functioning of exposed and unexposed hospital personnel at two time points. The research was conducted during 2009 and included a survey of two random samples of hospital personnel (physicians and nurses), one collected during the Gaza War and the other 6 months later. Each sample included hospital personnel who were exposed to war-related stress and others who were not (Study 1: n = 67 and 74 for exposed and unexposed, respectively; Study 2: n = 57 and 50 for exposed and unexposed, respectively). Levels of psychiatric symptoms and psychosocial functioning were measured. Compared to unexposed hospital personnel, exposed hospital personnel had a significantly higher level of post–traumatic symptoms during the Gaza War and 6 months later. In addition, during the Gaza War, exposed hospital personnel had a significantly higher level of depressive symptoms. However, in the second study, depressive symptoms were similar to those found in the unexposed group. These findings may suggest that war-related stress is associated with post–traumatic symptoms among hospital personnel even 6 months after exposure.