Negative and positive effects of traumatic experiences in a group of emergency service workers --the role of personal and social resources.

BACKGROUND The purpose of the research is to investigate the role of personal (spirituality) and social (social support in the workplace) resources in both negative (post-traumatic stress disorder - PTSD symptoms) and positive (post-traumatic growth) effects of experienced trauma in a group of emergency service workers. MATERIALS AND METHODS Data of 116 workers representing emergency service (37.1% firefighters, 37.1%, police officers and 25.8% medical rescue workers) who have experienced traumatic events in their worksite were analyzed. The range of age of the participants was 21-57 years (M = 35.27; SD = 8.13). Polish versions of the Impact of Events Scale - Revised and the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory were used to assess the negative and positive effects of experienced events. Spirituality was assessed by self-report questionnaire and social support in the workplace scale was measured by the scale What support you can count on. RESULTS The results revealed that support from supervisors reduces the severity of PTSD symptoms, and spirituality and support from co-workers promote the growth after trauma. CONCLUSIONS Personal resources in the form of spirituality, compared with the social resources, play more important role in gaining benefits from trauma than in protecting against the harmful effects of the experienced traumatic event.