Questionnaires and inventories to assess the impact on workers of working in emergency conditions

Research surveys on the impact of work in emergency conditions has increased significantly in Italy over the last ten years, due to the fact that many research groups and intervention teams relating to emergency scenario psychology themes have became institutionalised. This review therefore represents an operative contribution to the research net that is gradually becoming organised in Italy. The analysis of international literature has identified a fairly uniform methodological format that characterises the majority of the surveys to assess the impact of work in emergency conditions. We have provided a detailed description of the instruments in the annexed tables, in particular, focussing on the points of strength and the points of weakness, the psychometric properties, the format, the operating instructions, and the presence of validation studies, if any, referred to Italy. A number of instruments specific to emergency workers, frequently cross-dimensional and created ad hoc for individual study contexts were also presented. The review closes with a critical examination of the dominant methodology applied in studies on emergency workers and with a description of new research horizons.