Situational demands and coping strategies in Alberta paramedics
Date
1994
Authors
Rose, John Brian
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The work of paramedics is considered highly demanding and is characterized by the need to be prepared for the unknown, make rapid decisions with the well-being of others in mind, and perform their work roles within unpredictable environments. Little research has examined this population of professionals with regard to the concepts of stress and coping, especially in considering the daily demands of paramedics and the coping strategies they utilize to deal with these demands. This research attempted to describe the demands that paramedics experience daily as a function of their work, identify coping strategies they use to address these demands, and examine the sources and functions of social support they seek in order to deal with their work demands. The Transactional Model of Coping was used as a conceptual framework with which to consider stress and coping and describe these constructs in paramedics.
A survey instrument was constructed using a combination of two existing instruments, the Inventory of Student Demands and the COPE, in addition to three new questions developed by the author. The majority of questions were quantitative in nature; however, four questions asked participants for hand-written responses. These hand-written responses were subjected to a content analysis. The survey was mailed to 260 randomly selected paramedics from the province of Alberta. With the aid of two reminder letters, 140 paramedics returned the survey representing a 56% return rate. This final sample consisted of 48% women and 52% men representing two professional classifications, Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic (55%) and Emergency Medical Technician-Ambulance (45%). The average age of participants was between 30 to 34 years.
The group of paramedics ranked Role Demands as the most important demand category in the workplace. Specifically, duties such as maintaining skills and adhering to policies and procedures were most frequently cited within Role Demands. Relationships with others in the workplace and Role Overload were cited second and third, respectively. The coping strategies most often reported by the sample of paramedics, as identified by the COPE, were Positive Reinterpretation & Growth, Planning, and Acceptance. The coping strategies self-reported by participants were Active Coping, Seeking Social Support, and Mental/Emotional/Behavioural Disengagement. The discrepancy in findings between these methods of data collection was probably due to a propensity of participants to indicate behaviours over cognitions in a self-report measure. These paramedics sought social support more often from co-workers than from any other group. Spouses and supervisors were sought next most often after co-workers as sources of support, and were essentially accessed to the same extent. The type of support most often sought was Emotional Support followed closely by Informational Support. There were a number of statistical relationships found between coping strategies and gender, and most of these followed stereotypical notions of social behaviour based on gender.
These findings provide more detailed information to understand the pattern of stress and coping among paramedics than was previously available. In some ways these findings are disparate from those found on the previous few studies in the literature examining paramedics. This disparity may be due to differences in populations (i.e., American versus Canadian), and/or differences in the method and content of data collected. Limitations of this study and suggestions for further research are discussed with these findings in mind.