Kent researchers to study psychological impact of road crash rescue

Psychologists at Kent have been commissioned by the Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS) to study the psychological impact of its rescue processes on casualties of road traffic collisions (RTC).

The study, titled the ‘Psychology of Rescue’, will look at how KFRS can adapt its policy and procedure to support the psychological wellbeing of those they rescue. Dr Claire Russ from Kent’s School of Psychology will lead the research.

In the last five years, KFRS has attended over 5,600 road crashes, in which more than 3,500 people have been injured. It’s believed that 16.8% of people involved in a traumatic event will potentially suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Looking at these figures, that equates to 588 people within Kent alone, who may go on to suffer from PTSD or even Complex-PTSD (C-PTSD). Little is known about the point at which PTSD may be triggered during a traumatic event, or whether ongoing sustained trauma soon after a rescue (known as the hypersensitive phase, when response to threat is heightened) can increase the likelihood of PTSD.

By interviewing those rescued from road traffic collisions (RTC) by fire crews within Kent, Dr Russ’ team hope to be able to identify when and how rescue processes impact the casualty. This is the first time that casualties themselves have provided an account of their experience at the hands of the Fire and Rescue Service. Using these findings KFRS aims to implement evidence-based changes in how they action a rescue at an RTC, in the hope that they can improve the psychological experience of their RTC casualties. In turn, KFRS hopes to reduce the psychological symptoms experienced at the earliest opportunity.

The Kent researchers are actively looking for participants who have been involved in a road traffic collision in the last 3-4 years in Kent, who have needed KFRS to get them out of their car. Participants will be asked to complete a screening questionnaire (so the researchers can make sure as best as they can, that they will be impacted minimally by talking about their accident), and the researchers will then speak with them on the phone to verify the details of the accident with KFRS who have a database of all accidents they attend. Those participants will then be interviewed online (which will last approximately 1 hour) and will be paid for their time.

If anyone is interested in participating, please email HSSfireandrescue@kent.ac.uk and a link will be sent with more information on the project and the pre-screening questions.