Latent transition analysis on post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth among firefighters

Background: Firefighters, in the course of their professional responsibilities, confront an array of stressors contingent upon the distinctive characteristics of their duties. Objective: This study investigated the longitudinal impact of trauma incidents during duty on firefighters using latent transition analysis. Method: Data from 346 firefighters in South Korea who had experienced trauma events while on duty were utilized. Initially, latent groups were identified based on the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and post-traumatic growth (PTG). Groups were labelled based on the analysis of differences in PTSD, mental health, and growth-related factors among classified groups. Subsequently, transition probabilities and patterns from Time 1 to Time 2 were examined, followed by an investigation into variances based on demographic factors (gender, age) and occupational factors (work experience, shift pattern) using variance analysis and multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results: First, at Time 2, a five-group model was classified into ‘Growth,’ ‘Resilience or Numbness,’ ‘Struggle,’ ‘Partial Struggle,’ and ‘PTSD’ groups. Second, upon examining the transition patterns between latent groups, four patterns emerged: ‘continued distress,’ ‘growth,’ ‘adaptation,’ and ‘escalated distress.’ Third, the ‘Struggle’ group showed a 0% probability of transitioning to the ‘Growth’ group, whereas it displayed the highest probability among the groups transitioning to the ‘PTSD’ group. Fourth, latent transition analysis results showed a strong tendency for the ‘Growth’ group and ‘Resilience or Numbness’ group to remain in the same category. Fifth, age was found to be a significant factor affecting the transition of latent groups. Conclusion: This research represents the inaugural attempt to longitudinally investigate the interplay between PTSD and PTG among firefighters.