Coping, Personality and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Nurses Affected by Super Storm Sandy

Objectives: To identify the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder experienced by nurses as a result of a natural disaster, and its relationship to personality and coping style. Design and Sample: A descriptive correlational design was used to examine the relationships between and among the variables using an anonymous online survey. Measures: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was measured using the PTSD-8 [1]. The Brief COPE [2] was used to measure coping style. Personality was measured utilizing the State Trait Personality Inventory [3]. Participants answered demographic questions such as gender and age, and how they were affected by the storm. Results: Over 19% percent of the nurse participants met the criteria for PTSD. The significant predictors of PTSD were the personality characteristics of state-anxiety, state-trait and trait depression, and the coping strategies of active coping, denial, acceptance, instrumental support, behavioral disengagement, venting and planning. The final regression model explained 90.7% of the variance in high PTSD-8 score. Conclusions: The findings of this study support the literature and the researchers’ belief, that there is a relationship among coping, personality, and PTSD. More research is needed to understand the individual coping mechanisms that nurses utilize during times of stress and how they are related to personality and PTSD.