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Police, fire, emergency medical and hospital personnel were surveyed following two disasters in the same county: An apartment building explosion followed 1 year later by a devastating tornado. They completed a symptom checklist, the Coping Inventory, and rated the extent of their support net‐works. Reported symptoms revealed clinically significant emotional effects postdisaster. More post‐traumatic symptoms were reported following the tornado. Coping theory emphasizing cognitive appraisal was used as the conceptual framework for studying reported adjustment strategies. Workers' comments illustrated the cognitive processes intervening between the emergency events and reactions to them. The most frequently endorsed coping strategies following both events involved attempts to reach cognitive mastery over the event and to ascertain meaning. Strategies of altering activities and finding new interests were not frequently endorsed. A greater number of coping responses were endorsed following the tornado along with strategies which involved seeking support from others. Factor analysis of Coping Inventory responses revealed four factors: seeking of meaning, regaining mastery through individual action, regaining mastery through interpersonal action, and philosophical self‐contemplation.

This is an endemic cause of a necrotizing wound bite in areas of the Midwestern and Southern United States, but it is rarely reported in the Northeast.

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A model of organizational characteristics, occupational stress and mental health in emergency medical technicians (EMTs) is developed and tested. Supervisor behavior and work group support are used as predictors of negative role perception. Negative role perception is specified as intervening between the organizational variables and occupational stress. Occupational stress is hypothesized to directly influence depression. Data collected from 250 EMTs is used in a structural equation analysis to estimate model parameters. The sample is mostly male (74%), white (94%), and married (68%). Results suggest that there is a direct relationship between perceived occupational stress and increased depression. Role perception is a critical intervening variable between supervisor behavior, work group support, and occupational stress. The findings suggest that EMTs are more satisfied when supervisory practices result in an environment which encourages open expression and group problem solving. This work environment leads to more supportive relationships among squad members, reduced role ambiguity, and decreased occupational stress and depression.

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