Relationship between psychological distress and resilience in rescue workers

OBJECTIVES To assess the relationship between psychological distress and resilience in rescue workers. Following hypothesis was formulated; there would be negative correlation between psychological distress and resilience in rescue workers.  METHOD A correlational study was conducted from June-August 2015 in Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab, Pakistan. The sample of the present study consisted of 100 rescue workers. The age of the participants ranged from 23 to 40 year old with the mean age of 27.4±3.9 years. Demographic information form, Kessler psychological distress scale and adult resilience measure were administered on the participants to assess the level of psychological distress and resilience.   RESULTS Pearson product moment coefficient of correlation was applied to analyze the relationship of psychological distress and resilience. Analysis of the result indicated that there is negative relationship between psychological distress and resilience (r= -0.203, p less than 0.01) in rescue workers. Further, contextual factors (r= -0.292, p less than 0.05) and its subcomponents including spiritual beliefs (r= -0.239, p less than 0.05) and cultural resources (r= -0.287, p less than 0.01) were also found to be inversely correlated with psychological distress.  CONCLUSION The research evidenced that rescue workers were experiencing psychological distress Resilience factors should be considered while designing trainings to preserve mental health and to enhance the psychological well-being of rescue workers.