Cian Dabrowski, Jeffrey M. Lating, Ph.D., Martin F. Sherman, Ph.D., Matthew W. Kirkhart, Ph.D.
An Exploratory Factor Analysis of Emotional Reactions in Canadian Steelworkers Following a Traumatic Incident
Industrial workers are often exposed to critical incidents, and as a consequence of
these exposures they have been noted to have elevated rates of posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) (Blake, Lating, Sherman, & Kirkhart,
2013; Bureau of Labour Statistics, 2018). This type of critical incident exposure
and its consequences was previously studied in a unique sample of 182 United Steelworkers
(USW) from Sudbury, Canada. More specifically, these USW members were found to have
a rate of probable PTSD of 27.5% when assessed with the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5;
Weathers, Litz, Keane, Palmieri, Marx, & Schnurr, 2013), a rate of probable MDD of
22.5% when assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9; Kroenke, Spitzer,
& Williams, 2001), and a rate of 14.3% for individuals from this sample with both
PTSD and MDD (Breen, 2017). The purpose of this current study is to utilize exploratory
factor analyses (EFA) to assess the structure of the item responses from the PCL-5
and the PHQ-9.
Part of the rationale for doing the EFA is that the PTSD diagnostic criteria have
changed considerably since their introduction as a disorder in 1980 in DSM-III (North,
Suris, Smith, & King, 2016). Specifically, the number and groupings of symptoms have
changed in the past two editions of the DSM. Despite the diagnostic criteria developments,
there remains, however, no consensus regarding how symptoms of PTSD should be categorized.
While previous research has studied PTSD or MDD following job-related trauma, no study
has assessed the underlying factor structure of items on the PCL-5 and PHQ-9 to aggregately
explore these constructs. Therefore, the current study will use EFA to assess first
the item factors that emerge from USW sample’s responses to the PCL-5. A second separate
EFA will then examine item responses when the PCL-5 and PHQ-9, which have been shown
to be highly correlated, are assessed together (Demirchyan, Goenjian, & Khachadourian,
2015).
Due to its exploratory nature, this study will make no explicit hypotheses regarding
the specific structure of the factors. However, the results of this study may help
to define the structure of items that could predict probable PTSD or MDD and help
those suffering after a traumatic event. More specifically, conducting an EFA on these
items and examining the resulting structure may help to define symptoms or groupings
most significant to the diagnosis of PTSD, leading to more accurate diagnosing of
individuals following a traumatic event or possibly providing the impetus for an assessment
questionnaire.