A longitudinal study on emotional distress among local government staff seven years after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China

Background The current study examined the change in local government staff’s emotional distress over 7 years after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, and the influence of earthquake exposure and professional quality of life (ProQOL) on emotional distress. Methods This longitudinal study assessed 250 participants at 1 year after the earthquake; 162 (64.8%) were followed up at 7 years. Emotional distress was assessed with the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) at both time points. We assessed ProQOL, including compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress, and earthquake exposure at 1 year. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were performed to test longitudinal changes in emotional distress. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to examine the effect of earthquake exposure and ProQOL. Results The positive screening rate of emotional distress (SRQ ≥ 8) was 37.6 and 15.4% at one and 7 years, respectively. Emotional distress scores declined over time (p ps p = 0.018) and seven-year (p = 0.047) emotional distress. Conclusions Although emotional distress can recover over time, it persists even 7 years later. Actions to reduce burnout during the early stage of post-disaster rescue have long-term benefits to staff’s psychological outcomes.