[The role of coping strategies in posttraumatic growth in medical rescue workers].

BACKGROUND The purpose of the research was to investigate the role of coping strategies with stress in posttraumatic growth in a group of medical rescue workers. MATERIAL AND METHODS The data on 80 medical rescuers who had experienced traumatic event in their worksite were analyzed. The age of the participants ranged from 21 to 67 years (M= 35.47; SD = 10.21). The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory and Inventory to Measure Coping Strategies with Stress - Mini-Cope were used in the study. RESULTS The results revealed that the strategy "turning to religion" plays the major role in posttraumatic growth. CONCLUSIONS In the process of emerging positive changes posttraumatic growth avoidance strategies seem to play more important role than strategies focused on the problem itself.