The Level Of Posttraumatic Growth And Its Related Factors Among 120 Ambulance Personnel

Objective:To investigate the level of posttraumatic growth (PTG) of 120 ambulance personnel, and explore the relationships between posttraumatic growth and social support, positive coping, positive and negative affect. A better understanding of posttraumatic growth would provide theoretical basis for the development of effective psychological intervention.Methods:Total 227 of 120 ambulance personnel from six sub-center of 120 emergency center of Shandong Province were enrolled by convenience sampling. Finally, the response rate was 94.5%. In this study, five kinds of questionnaires were used and they are general information questionnaire, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale(CD-RISC), Social Support Rating Scale, the Subscale of Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). All data obtained were statistically analyzed by software package SPSS17.0 for windows. Statistical methods such as completely randomized design analysis of variance (ANOVA), independent t test, correlation analysis and multiple linear regressions were used.Results:1. The socio-demographic characteristics of 120 ambulance personnelThe average age was 31.76±6.52 years, ranging from 22 to 55 years.72.4% of participants were females,68.3% were married and 84.6% of participants had a college degree or above.55.5% of participants had monthly income above ￥3000, 56.4% of participants had worked for more than 5 years and 45.4% of participants were nurses.2. Scores of PTG and their difference in socio-demographic characteristicsThe average scores of PTG was 68.96±15.51 and 67.8% of participants had a score above 63. The means score of each items of every dimensions from high to low were:personnel power (3.49±0.78), enjoy the life(3.35±0.81), change in mental status (3.33±0.94), interpersonal relationship (3.23±0.81), new possibilities (3.14± 0.88). There were no significant differences on PTG scores in terms of gender, age, education level, martial statue, monthly income, working time and work type.3. Correlations of social support, positive coping, positive and negative affect and PTG.Results of Pearson analysis showed that the relationship between positive affect, positive coping, social support and PTG were significantly positive, while the relationship between negative affect and PTG was significantly negative.4. The single factor regression analysis of the influencing factors on PTGControlling for the socio-demographic, results showed that social support, positive coping and positive affect can significantly predict PTG, while PTG could be negatively predicted by negative affect.5. Multiple linear regressions analysis of psychosocial factors on PTGMultiple linear regressions were used to explore the association among social support, positive coping, positive and negative emotion and PTG. The study selected PTG as the dependent variables, social support, positive coping and positive/negative affect as independent variables, socio-demographic variables as first-level control variables. The results indicated that social support and positive coping and positive emotion can collectively explain 48.5% variance of PTG. Among them, the social support can independently explain 24% variance of PTG, the positive response can independently explain 19.3% variance of PTG, and the positive emotion can independently explain 5.2% variance of PTG.Conclusion:1. The level of PTG among 120 ambulance personnel is moderate.2. Social support, positive coping and positive emotion were positively related to PTG, while the relationship between negative emotion and PTG was significantly negative.3. Social support, positive coping and positive/negative emotion could predict PTG.