Gender differences and acute stress reactions among rescue personnel 36 to 48 hours after exposure to traumatic event

The immediate impact of exposure to dead and mutilated bodies was assessed among rescue personnel 36 to 48 hr after a collapsed building disaster in Tel Aviv. Twenty-five rescue personnel, 9 men and 16 women, completed a battery of questionnaires including the Dissociative Experience Scale and the Impact of Event Scale designed to detect acute stress reactions. The authors compared gender differences in the severity of the acute stress reactions. These comparisons revealed no difference between male and female rescue personnel. The implications of these results for acute stress reactions and gender differences among rescue personnel are discussed.