Sense of Coherence is Linked to Post-Traumatic Growth after Critical Incidents in Austrian Ambulance Personnel

Autor(en)

Human-Friedrich Unterrainer

Abstrakt

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

Organisation(en)

Institut für Religionswissenschaft

Journal

BMC Psychiatry

Band

19

Seiten

1-11

Anzahl der Seiten

11

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-019-2065-z

Publikationsdatum

03-2019

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

603910 Religionspsychologie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Psychiatry and Mental health

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/sense-of-coherence-is-linked-to-posttraumatic-growth-after-critical-incidents-in-austrian-ambulance-personnel(346c95b7-f2c1-4d71-b5f0-5d0aaae898b9).html