Traumatisierung am Arbeitsplatz

Zusammenfassung

Journalistinnen und Journalisten sehen sich im Zuge ihrer Berufsausübung mit verstörenden Eindrücken konfrontiert. Diese Beeinträchtigung der psychischen Gesundheit durch Stressoren kann journalistische Wahrnehmungs- und Selektionsprozesse beeinflussen und ist daher als Forschungsthema für die Kommunikationswissenschaft relevant. Mit einer Befragung von n = 68 Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmern wurden die Folgen traumatischer Erlebnisse für Journalistinnen und Journalisten untersucht. Dabei wurden verschiedene psychologische Testverfahren wie der WHO-5-Wohlbefindens-Index, der Impact-of-Event-Scale Revised u. a. verwendet. Ein wichtiger Befund ist die mangelnde soziale Unterstützung durch Vorgesetzte und Kollegen in den Medienunternehmen, was die von traumatischen Erlebnissen betroffenen Vertreter der Berufsgruppe als zusätzlich belastend empfinden. Auch genderspezifische Unterschiede bei der Verarbeitung konnten festgestellt werden.

Abstract

Journalists are confronted with disturbing impressions in the course of their professional practice. They may see human suffering or witness situations in which people experience physical harm, sometimes they even put themselves in danger. In fact, the vast majority of journalists encounters stressors during their work, which can be classified as potentially traumatizing.

Such exposure can cause psychological impairment and in particularly severe cases traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which occurs as a delayed reaction to the traumatic experience when individual coping mechanisms fail. According to the psychological classification systems DSM IV and ICD-10, symptoms of re-experiencing or flashbacks as well as avoidance symptoms are typical of PTSD.

This possibility is also highly relevant for communication science. For if journalists are psychologically impaired by their work or develop PTSD, this will have an impact on their future work. The research question therefore was to what extent journalists are exposed to potentially traumatic stressors and how this effects their mental health.

Method. A convenience sample of 68 German journalists working for print and online publications as well as for radio and television stations were interviewed (n = 68), the selection of which was made through the university’s and personal contacts to newsrooms.

Various psychological testing methods were used. The construct of mental well-being was measured by the Well-Being Index of the World Health Organization. The traumatization of journalists on the other hand, i.e., the occurrence of PTSD (ICD-10) was operationalized according to a questionnaire item by Hatanaka et al.

Applying the Impact of Event Scale Revised the participants were asked to assess the severity of their traumatic experience focusing. Furthermore, the social support both at work and at home as experienced by the person affected by the traumatic event were inquired about.

Hypotheses. H1, H2, and H5 focus on identifying gender-specific differences in the probability of occurrence of traumatic experiences. H3 and H4 address the time dimension of the healing process of trauma. H6, H7, and H8 focus on the question whether affected journalists receive social support.

Findings. 28% of the participants reported to have had work-related traumatic experiences, both male and female journalists were affected. Although the affected female journalists outnumbered male journalists, these differences did not proof to be significant when tested with a chi-square test (d f = 1; exact 1‑sided significance = 0.406).

Asked about the negative impact of the traumatic experience on their psychological well-being immediately after the event, female journalists had a mean value of 3.9 (standard deviation = 1.85) on a scale of 0 (no impact) to 6 (major impact). Male journalists had a mean value of 3.5 (standard deviation = 1.38). Both male and female journalists also stated, to be affected by the past traumatic event in the present: Female participants had a mean value of 1.00 (standard deviation = 0.94) and male participants had a mean value of 1.83 (standard deviation = 1.17).

Even severe traumas diminish with time passing. When asked about the current effects of the past traumatic event on psychological well-being, female journalists scored lower than male journalists, which suggests that they might be better at integrating their traumatic experiences.

Traumatic experiences do, however, seem to influence journalists’ overall well-being: Female journalists without traumatic experience have a mean value of 2.72 (standard deviation = 0.68) on the WHO 5‑Well-Being Scale, compared to female journalists with a traumatic experience, who have a mean value of 2.33 (standard deviation = 0.95). Male journalists without a traumatic experience have a mean value of 3.13 (standard deviation = 0.81) compared to female journalists with trauma experience, who have a mean value of 2.71 (standard deviation = 1.30).

Social support is an important resource in terms of resilience. The study revealed, however, that journalists who have had traumatic experiences receive little support from their superiors. Female journalists have a mean value of 1.30 (standard deviation = 0.68) and male journalists have an even lower mean value of 2.00 (standard deviation = 2.45).

Journalists do, however, receive support from their colleagues. Female journalists receive greater support (mean value = 3.78; standard deviation = 2.49). Male journalists, on the other hand, receive only slightly more support from their colleagues (mean value = 2.67; standard deviation = 2.66) than from their supervisors. For both male and female journalists the main social support comes from their families: The mean value for female participants was 3.78 (standard deviation = 2.59), for male participants it was slightly higher at 3.33 (standard deviation = 2.94).

Discussion. The findings show that traumatic experiences are no exception in journalism. Men and women are equally exposed to them resulting in an impairment of their mental health. However, women journalists proved to be slightly better at recovering from them. They also receive more support from their colleagues than men, which could be an important factor influencing their recovery.

A lack of support for traumatized journalists by media companies has already been identified in earlier studies and can be confirmed here. This is particularly significant because the perceived recognition or non-recognition by colleagues and superiors is the decisive risk or resilience factor that determines whether or not PTSD develops. The author suggests that more institutionalized care for traumatized journalists would be beneficial.