Abstract
BackgroundAmbulance personnel, as well as other emergency services like fire-fighters or the police force, are regularly confronted with experiences of extreme psychological distress and potentially traumatizing events in the line of their daily duties. As a consequence, this occupational group is exposed to an elevated risk of developing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress (PTSS). Subsequently, symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress have been observed as potentially co-occurring with Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG) in ambulance personnel as well. Therefore, in this study we hypothesized that Sense of Coherence (SOC) might play an important role as an underlying feature in enabling growth after stressful experiences in Austrian ambulance personnel.MethodsIn this study, voluntary and full-time ambulance personnel (n = 266) of the Austrian Red Cross ambulance service completed an online survey including the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-29), the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) and the Impact of Event Scale Revised (IES-R) for the assessment of PTSS. In line with theoretical considerations, a two-step cluster analysis limited to four clusters and further ANOVAs were conducted.ResultsFour clusters were confirmed and labelled PTSS-low/PTG-low, PTSS-low/PTG-high, PTSS-high/PTG-high and PTSS-high/PTG-low. Further ANOVAs revealed substantial cluster differences in SOC, with higher SOC-levels in PTSS-high/PTG-high than in PTSS-high/PTG-low (p < .01), in PTSS-low/PTG-high than in PTSS-low/PTG-low (p < .01) and in PTSS-low/PTG-high than in PTSS-high/PTG-low (p < .01).ConclusionsOur findings point to a significant association between SOC and the development of PTG in ambulance personnel. Furthermore, the results suggest that growth and stress after critical incidents are independent from each other and can co-exist. Therefore, promoting SOC (e.g., meaningfulness) in ambulance personnel – e.g., through psychological interventions – might preserve and enhance psychological health after critical incidents.
Highlights
Ambulance personnel, as well as other emergency services like fire-fighters or the police force, are regularly confronted with experiences of extreme psychological distress and potentially traumatizing events in the line of their daily duties
Additional correlation analyses were conducted to investigate possible relationships between Sense of Coherence (SOC), Post-Traumatic Stress (PTSS) and Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG) with years of service and duration of ambulance services. These analyses revealed that more years of service were positively associated with a higher level of SOC (r = .15, p < .05) as well as negatively associated with lower levels of the PTSS symptom Avoidance (r = −.14, p < .05) and a lower Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)-Probability (r = −.13, p < .05)
We examined the impact of SOC on PTSS and PTG in Austrian ambulance personnel
Summary
As well as other emergency services like fire-fighters or the police force, are regularly confronted with experiences of extreme psychological distress and potentially traumatizing events in the line of their daily duties As a consequence, this occupational group is exposed to an elevated risk of developing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress (PTSS). According to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), a traumatic event is defined as the exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violation through personal experience, witnessing it as it occurs to other people or through the extreme exposure to aversive details of the event [5] This applies in particular to emergency service personnel (e.g. ambulance personnel, fire fighters, police force) because of their regular confrontation with extreme psychological distress, critical incidents or potentially traumatizing events in the line of their daily duties [2]. In search of possible reasons for this discrepancy, previous studies hypothesized that critical incidents might lead to negative outcome (e.g., PTSS) but could result in positive psychological changes including Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG) [1, 2]
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