Post-traumatic stress symptoms following shipwreck of a Norwegian Navy frigate — an early follow-up

The purpose of this study was to conduct an early follow-up of survivors from the shipwreck of a Norwegian Naval frigate. In the accident one person died and nine were injured of a total crew of 114 persons. Two weeks after the shipwreck, the crew were assigned to a new identical frigate for a period of 4 months in order to complete their scheduled operational duties. Post-traumatic stress reactions were measured by the Impact of Event Scale (IES) and the Post-Traumatic Symptom Scale (PTSS-10) at 3 weeks, 4 and 12 months after the shipwreck. The results showed that even a trained military crew displayed a high number of acute stress reactions. Contextual factors like social role (e.g. being a conscript) and personality factors like an avoidance focused coping style, measured by the Coping Style Questionnaire (CSQ-30), were strongly associated with more acute stress reactions. Over time, the overall level of post-traumatic stress reactions were reduced and the scores of the conscripts did not differ from those of the officers. One implication of these findings could be the need to develop more sophisticated screening procedures in order to target early preventive interventions and acute treatment after maritime accidents.