Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T12:40:03.227Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Stress, Job Satisfaction, Coping, and Psychological Distress Among Emergency Medical Technicians

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Edwin Boudreaux ,
Cris Mandry  and
Phillip J. Brantley
Edwin Boudreaux*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University
Cris Mandry
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Louisiana State University School of Medicine
Phillip J. Brantley
Affiliation:
Pennington Biomedical Research Center and Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University
*
Emergency Medicine Residency Program, Earl K. Long Medical Center, 5825 Airline Highway, Baton Rouge, LA 70816
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Introduction:

Although several studies link job-related stressors with adverse reactions among emergency medical technicians (EMTs), more standardized research is needed, since much remains unknown about stress responses, coping styles and their consequences for EMTs. This paper presents the results of two studies. Study I investigated the relation between job-related stressors, job satisfaction, and psychological distress, while Study II investigated how coping is related to occupational burnout, job-related stress, and physiological arousal.

Hypothesis:

Study I: Those EMTs experiencing greater job-related stressors are less satisfied with their jobs and more psychologically distressed.

Objective, Study II:

To obtain preliminary information about which coping strategies are associated with greater feelings of stress and burnout and more intense autonomic nervous system reactivity.

Methods:

For both studies, EMTs from a large, urban, public EMS organization in the southern United States were asked to participate. Study I: Subjects completed an informed consent document, a demographics questionnaire, a measure of job stress (the Stress Diagnosis Inventory), a measure of job satisfaction (Job-in-General), and a measure of psychological symptomatology (Symptom Checklist-90, Revised). Pearson product-moment correlations were computed between the measures. Study II: Subjects completed an informed consent document, a demographics/information sheet, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), and the Ways of Coping Scale (WOCS). They then completed 30 days of monitoring using the Daily Stress Inventory (DSI) and the Daily Autonomic Nervous System Response Inventory (DANSRI). Pearson product-moment correlations were computed between the measures.

Results:

Study I: Those EMTs who experienced greater job-related stress also were significantly more dissatisfied with their jobs, more depressed, anxious, hostile, and endorsed greater global psychological distress. Study IT. The Depersonalization subscale on the MBI correlated significantly with the following WOCS subscales: Accepting Responsibility, Confrontive Coping, Distancing, and Escape/Avoidance. Emotional Exhaustion on the MBI correlated significantly with Confrontive Coping, Escape/Avoidance, and Social Support, while data obtained on the 40 subjects who completed the daily monitoring revealed that DSI-Impact, DANSRI-Number, and DANSRI-Impact scores each correlated significantly with Accepting Responsibility, Confrontive Coping, and Escape/Avoidance.

Conclusion:

A significant portion of an EMT's job satisfaction and psychological well-being is associated with the degree to which they are experiencing job-related stress, and, furthermore, this distress level appears to be clinically elevated. This implies that in-service programs and psychological support services designed to help EMTs manage their job-related stress may improve job satisfaction and decrease psychological distress. The coping styles most consistently associated with maladaptive outcomes were: Accepting Responsibility, Confrontive Coping, and Escape/Avoidance. Thus, subjects who were more likely to handle stress with self-blame, aggression, hostility, and risk taking or with wishful thinking, escape tendencies, and avoidance were more likely to endorse more negative outcomes.

Keywords

burnoutcopingdistressEMTemergency medical technicianjob satisfactionparamedicstress
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , December 1997 , pp. 9 - 16
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Brantley, PJ, Jones, GN: Daily stress and stress-related disorders. Ann Behav Med 1993;15:17–25.Google Scholar
2. Dohrenwend, BS, Dohrenwend, BP: Stressful Life Events: Their Nature and Effects. New York: John Wiley and Sons; 1973.Google Scholar
3. Rabkin, JG: Struening, EL: Life events, stress, and illness. Science 1976;195:1013–1020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Selye, H.The Stress of Life. 2d ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1978.Google Scholar
5. Revicki, DA, Whitley, TW, Landis, SS, Allison, EJ: Organizational characteristics, occupational stress, and depression in rural emergency medical technicians. J Rural Health 1988;4:73–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Revicki, DA, May, HJ, Whitley, TW: Reliability and validity of the Work-Related Strain Inventory among health professionals. Behav Med 1991;Fall:111–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7. Whitley, TW, Revicki, DA, Allison, EJ, Landis, SS: The rural EMT and work-related stress. Emergency Medical Services 1988;17:61–64.Google Scholar
8. Grigsby, DW, McKnew, MA: Work-stress burnout among paramedics. Psych Rep 1988;63:55–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. Neale, AV: Work stress in emergency medical technicians. J Occup Med 1991;33:991–997.Google ScholarPubMed
10. Durham, T W, McCammon, SL, Allison, EJ: The psychological impact of disaster on rescue personnel. Ann Emerg Med 1985;14:664–667.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11. MacFarlane, AC: The longitudinal course of post-traumatic morbidity: The range of outcomes and their predictors. J Nervous and Mental Disease 1988;176:30–39.Google Scholar
12. MacFarlane, AC: The aetiology of post-traumatic morbidity: Predispos-ing, precipitating, and perpetuating factors. Brit J Psychiatry 1989;154:221–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13. Miles, MS, Demi, AS, Mostyn-Aker, P: Rescue workers' reactions following the Hyatt hotel disaster. Death Educ 1984;8:315–331.Google Scholar
14. Raphael, B, Singh, B, Bradbury, L, Lambert, F: Who helps the helpers? The effects of a disaster on the rescue workers. Omega 1983–1984;14:9–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15. Weiss, DS, Marmar, CR, Metzler, TJ, Ronfeldt, HM: Predicting symptomatic distress in emergency services personnel. J Consult and Clinical Psych 1995;63:361–368.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16. Wilkinson, CB. Aftermath of a disaster: The collapse of the Hyatt Regency Hotel skywalks. Am J Psychiat 1983;140:1134–1139.Google ScholarPubMed
17. Lazarus, RS, Folkman, S: Stress Appraisal and Coping. New York: Springer Publishing Company; 1984.Google Scholar
18. Boudreaux, E, Mandry, C. Sources of stress among emergency medical technicians (Part I): What does the research say? Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 1996;11:296–301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19. Allison, EJ, Whitley, TW, Revicki, DA, Landis, SS: Specific occupational satisfaction and stresses that differentiate paid and volunteer EMTs. Ann Emerg Med 1987;16:676–679.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20. Dutton, LM, Smolensky, MH, Leach, CS, Lorimor, R, Hsi, BP: Stress levels of ambulance paramedics and fire fighters. J Occup Med 1978; 20: 111–115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21. Gardner, DG, Warrick, DD: Job stressors and coping strategies: A field study of their relationships to experienced strain. Academy Manage Proc 1984;44:212–216.Google Scholar
22. Ironson, GH, Smith, PC, Brannick, MT, Gibson, WM, Paul, KB: Construction of a job in general scale: A comparison of global, composite, and specific measures. J App Psych 1989;74:193–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23. Derogatis, LR: SCL-90-R Administration, Scoring, and Procedures Manual-II. Towson, MD: Clinical Psychometric Research; 1992.Google Scholar
24. Folkman, S, Lazarus, RS: Manual for the Ways of Coping Questionnaire. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press; 1988.Google Scholar
25. Maslach, C, Jackson, SE: The Maslach Burnout Inventory Manual. 2d ed. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc; 1981.Google Scholar
26. Brantley, PJ, Jones, GN: The Daily Stress Inventory: Professional Manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources; 1989.Google Scholar
27. Adams, SG, Waters, WF, Dammers, PM, Maddox, JS, Adams, CD: The Daily Autonomic Nervous System Response Inventory (DANSRI): A measure of stress responders. Ann Behav Med. 1994;17 (Supplement): 143.Google Scholar
28. Hammer, JS, Mathews, JJ, Lyons, JS, Johnson, NJ: Occupational stress within the paramedic profession: An initial report of stress levels compared to hospital employees. Ann Emerg Med 1986;15:536–539.Google Scholar
29. Aldwin, CM, Revenson, TA: Does coping help? A reexamination of the relation between coping and mental health. J Person & Soc Psych 1987;53:337–348.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
30. Felton, BJ, Revenson, TA, Hinrichsen, GA: Stress and coping in the explanation of psychological adjustment among chronically ill adults. Soc Science & Med 1984;18:889–898.Google Scholar
31. Manne, S, Sandler, I: Coping and adjustment to genital herpes. J Behav Med 1984;7:391–410.Google Scholar
32. Beaton, RD, Murphy, SA: Sources of occupational stress among firefighter/EMTs and firefighter/paramedics and correlations with job-related outcomes. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 1993;8:140–150.Google Scholar
33. Schwartz, RJ, Benson, L, Jacobs, LM: The prevalence of occupational injuries in EMTs in New England. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 1993;8:45–50.Google Scholar