Browsing by Author "Musasia, Mary Wangu"

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    Common Traumatic Response Reactions Among Journalists in Nairobi County
    (Daystar University, School of Human and Social Sciences, 2015-06) Musasia, Mary Wangu
    Ehlers and Clark’s (2000) cognitive theory which perceives traumatization as resulting from inadequate cognitive representation and self-instructions, disturbances in information processing and changes could be used to help in understanding trauma experience. The objective of this cross-sectional graphic study was to assess the common traumatic response reactions among news journalists in four media houses based in Nairobi, Kenya. The study documented the types of traumatic events journalists were exposed to in the course of their duty and their common traumatic response reactions. Self-administered questionnaire was used to determine possible prevalence of PTSD and its comorbid disorders (depression, anxiety and substance use) among the journalists. The instruments used were the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) and Beck’s Depression & Anxiety Inventories (BDI and BAI). The study revealed that journalists could be at risk of traumatic stress. Many of the journalists studied exhibited traumatic stress symptoms with 41% respondents being in the severe range, 46% of whom were males and 33% were females. The risk of depression and anxiety was also apparent from the study. The study also revealed very low trauma awareness as majority of the journalists (89%) indicated that they had not received trauma specific training in their school curriculum. It also emerged that some journalists got involved in smoking and taking alcohol to cope with trauma and job stress demands. However, the study showed that despite experiencing job related challenges, most of the journalists did not seek help.