Examination of Coping Strategies among On-Site Paramedics

Abstract

The occurrence of physical and psychological symptoms that negatively influence everyday activities, efficient job performance, and professional patient treatment are common among paramedic workers. Aim: We uncovered the characteristic coping strategies applied by on-site paramedics and searched for correlations between these strategies and demographic, socio-economic characteristics, as well as factors related to work, workplace, and health behaviours. Sample and methodology: The survey was conducted between March 1, 2018, and February 28, 2019, among employees of the DG National Ambulance Service and participants of the Chamber of Hungarian Health Care Professionals. We used an abbreviated version of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire that contains 22 items (WOC-22). Descriptive statistics, independent samples T-tests, correlation calculations, analysis of variance with the Games-Howell post-hoc test were also carried out. Results: Tension reduction was a more common coping strategy among female and/or single paramedics as well as also being characteristic of people who work as paramedic officers. Problem-oriented coping stood out as a characteristic of people who have a higher level of education and/or are more satisfied with their financial situation. Risk-seeking appears dominantly among those who are not religious and/or have a lower level of education. Conclusions: Although paramedics are basically characterized by problem-oriented coping strategies, they quite often apply non-adaptive strategies as well; consequently, the chance of developing anxiety remains higher for them. Our aim is to use effective intervention methods for curbing the development of anxiety conditions among the ambulance personnel that have long-lasting negative effects on health care. To achieve this goal, we recommend including a questionnaire about coping strategies into the admission process of would-be paramedics; also, completing such questionnaires among the whole emergency workforce.

Effect of selected factors related to emotions and general health on the health behaviours of paramedics

“…The work of a paramedic is widely considered to be one of the most stressful among the medical professions. Professional activities, volatile working environment, and everyday hardships cause paramedics to exhibit high levels of occupational burnout and has negative emotional and physiological consequences on their health [32,33,34,35]. Post-traumatic stress indicators among paramedics range between 8 -32%, and differ depending on the environment, nature of the crisis, available support, education and individual traits [36,37,38].…”

Coping Strategies for Exposure to Trauma Situations in First Responders: A Systematic Review

“…Alghamdi, et al; 20 Meyer, et al; 21 Soravia, et al; 22 Lee, et al; 23 Witt, et al; 24 Kucmin, et al; 25 Theleritis, et al; 26 Clohessy, et al; 27 Durham, et al; 28 Huang, et al; 29 and Tomaka, et al 30 established the relationship between symptoms of PTSD and coping styles and how these can be protective or risk factors. Regarding the workplace and exposure to traumatic events, Moskola, et al; 31 Minnie, et al; 32 Boland, et al; 33 Dowdall-Thomae, et al; 34 Pisarski, et al; 35 Shakespeare-Finch, et al; 36 and Halpern, et al 37 presented the coping strategies used by this population after these events. Fonseca, et al; 38 Iwasaki, et al; 39 Pi ñar-Navarro, et al; 40 and Völker, et al 41 examined coping strategies related to stress.…”

“…Five studies presented events that first responders considered traumatic experiences that they had difficulty processing and influenced their emotions, such as accidents or events involving children, accidents with multiple victims, injury or death related to a coworker, dealing with violent people, or suffering from direct physical or verbal threats at the scene of an incident, and witnessing suicides or the death of a patient in their care. 22,25,31,32,42 In relation to the studies reviewed, there are different instruments to evaluate coping strategies in the face of stress, mostly derived from the theory of Lazarus and Folkman, 1984. 7 In the present review, it was found that the most commonly used instruments were the coping scale COPE (Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced) with 55% of studies, the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ) with 13% of studies, the Ways of Coping Checklist (WCCL) with 13% of studies, the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) with seven percent of studies, and four different instruments with a total of 12%.…”

“…Thirty cross-sectional studies were included, of which six studies were unsatisfactory, mainly due to the lack of comparability, 17,18,25,27,39,42 and three were good studies 19,31,45 (Table 2).…”

“…Additionally, it was reported that nonadaptive strategies that are related to a behavioral disconnection from stressful situations and a feeling of loss of control do not allow people to resort to active strategies to cope with problems. 27,31 The nonadaptive coping strategies used by these personnel showed a strong relationship with PTSD symptoms, burnout syndrome, psychiatric morbidity, and chronic stress, specifically avoidance coping. The importance of these studies performing correlations with psychiatric symptoms was conclusive evidence with respect to the adaptability of these coping styles.…”