The Relationship Between the Experience of Rescue Activities in the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Psychological Distress Among Medical Rescue Workers

Objective This study aimed to investigate the association between the experience of rescue activities in the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and psychological distress among medical rescue workers (MRWs). Methods MRWs were recruited from March 8 to March 31, 2024. Outcomes were psychological distress and PTSS. Independent variables were the experiences of rescue activities in the Noto Peninsula earthquake and peritraumatic distress assessed by the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory (PDI). Results 1085 MRWs completed all questions. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that experiences of being overwhelmed by the tragic situation in the disaster area (B = 0.61, p < 0.01), experience of disagreement and conflict among rescuers during rescue activities (B = 0.51, p < 0.01) and PDI (B = 0.33, p < 0.01) were significantly associated with psychological distress, and experience of disagreement and conflict among rescuers during rescue activities (B = 1.70, p < 0.01) and PDI (B = 0.65, p < 0.01) were significantly associated with PTSS. Conclusions This study showed factors associated with PTSS and psychological distress among MRWs during the Noto Peninsula earthquake, which was an important finding for future research on the mental health of MRWs.