Mind vs Matter

Personnel mental health impacts. 


9-1-1 dispatchers deal with many emotions and stressful situations.  Historically speaking, it has been assumed that 9-1-1 dispatchers were not victims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because they lacked the visual stimuli of the event.  However, according to APCO  in 2012 a Northern Illinois University study negated that theory with their research that was published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress (Public Safety Communications, 2014).  The study indicated that 9-1-1 dispatchers are susceptible to PTSD even though they are not physically or visually involved in the traumatic event. The video below gives an overview of the study.

9-1-1 Dispatchers & Mental Health

 

Source:  Northern Illinois University YouTube video

 

Jennifer Dell McLaughlin makes an interesting point in her abstract of a dissertation, “The Use of Humor For Emotion Management On The Job:  An Exploration Of 911 Communication Centers.”  She states:

For 911 dispatchers, exposed to a myriad of calls, the stress of facing crises each day can be mitigated by the use of humor.  Any given call could range from mundane to a full blown crisis.  Could the dispatchers’ use of humor help avert the harshness of a caller?  911 dispatchers may package the event in a humorous way to prove they can handle their job and nothing gets to them as a face-saving strategy to show they are tough or emotionally impervious.  Could the ironic statements made by dispatchers about calls and or callers reduce the callousness of their comments?

 

Utilizing this theory, it could be assumed that humor would be an effective coping strategy to handle stressful situations.  Although it may be a temporary coping mechanism, humor does not combat long term PTSD symptoms.  Currently minimal training is offered on effective stress reduction and coping mechanisms.  The majority of the nation is still utilizing the legacy infrastructure and most information received via 9-1-1 is via voice only.  Yet, PTSD is a real implication for 9-1-1 dispatchers.  When additional services such as text, still and live video are integrated into 9-1-1 call processing, the impact on dispatchers will be substantial.  In a personal e-mail communication, Sherry Decker, 9-1-1 Training Supervisor with NCTCOG explains one of the future concerns is the telecommunicator “becoming part of the crime scene”.  Someone may choose to send a live video to 9-1-1 of a horrific crime in progress.  The telecommunicators will need to be prepared to be desensitized for those instances. 

 

In addition to PTSD, the telecommunicator will also become part of the chain of evidence since he or she will be a first hand witness.  This will require additional manpower to staff centers while video calls are processed.  It will also require more court appearances by telecommunicators.   While PTSD is still a newly discovered impact for telecommunicators, the number of telecommunicators being impacted by PTSD will  significantly increase with the implementation of NG9-1-1.