Open Access

ARTICLE

A Qualitative Analysis of Emotions among Rescue and Recovery Workers Responding to the Oklahoma City Bombing

E. Whitney Pollio^1,*, David E. Pollio², Carol S. North^3,4

1 School of Nursing, Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725, USA
2 Private Practice, Tampa, FL 33617, USA
3 The Altshuler Center for Education & Research, Metrocare Services, Dallas, TX 35247, USA
4 Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA

* Corresponding Author: E. Whitney Pollio. Email:

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2025, 27(10), 1483-1495. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2025.067755

Received 12 May 2025; Accepted 21 August 2025; Issue published 31 October 2025

Abstract

Objectives: At the time of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (OKC), it was the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States of America. Available research on this incident, and in general, has been quantitative, using deductive methods. The purpose of the current study was to systematically examine professional disaster response workers’ emotions elicited spontaneously and in detail as they were experienced over time after a major disaster. This qualitative study will add to existing knowledge of psychopathology and the psychosocial effects of disasters on professional responders, which have not been explored by prior quantitative studies. Methods: A volunteer sample of 181 rescue and recovery workers for the 1995 bombing of the OKC Murrah Federal Building was interviewed approximately 3 years after the bombing. These responders were asked open-ended questions to elicit undirected responses in their own words. In these interviews, they were prompted to describe their feelings at 3 distinct time points: upon their arrival at the bombing scene (“immediately”), in the first 1 week following the bombing, and currently at the time of the interview (“now”). Results: Data items were coded into the 5 themes: Anticipation, Shock and awe, Negative reactions, Positive reactions, and Emotionally unengaged/unaffected. The emotional themes of the responders mapped into 2 conceptual domains. The first domain is related to common human responses to horrible events such as the bombing. The second domain is related to the professional identities of the disaster responders. Conclusions: Specific aspects of the professional responder roles asserted themselves, shaping their emotional responses distinctly from those of the bomb blast survivors. This study identified both negative and positive emotions, which may help identify risk for or resistance to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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Keywords

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