دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی استرس خود سنجی و واکنش روانشناسی در پزشکی - تیلور و فرانسیس 2018

ABSTRACT

Background: As an important group of health care professionals, paramedics accomplish sophisticated and frequently stressful tasks. Design: The study investigated self-reported stress burden, self-reported health status, coping strategies, personality traits and psychophysiological reactivity in paramedics. Methods: 30 paramedics were compared with 30 professionals from other disciplines, in terms of self-reported stress, physical complaints, coping strategies, personality traits and psychophysiological reactivity during aversive visual and acoustic stimuli, and cognitive challenge. Regression analyses were performed for the prediction of stress burden and physical complaints in paramedics according to coping and personality factors. Results: Paramedics reported lower stress and less somatic complaints, and exhibited reduced electrodermal activity and heart rate responses to experimental stimuli, as well as higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia. They indicated less negative coping strategies, reduced empathy, and higher conscientiousness and sensation seeking. Higher self-reported stress burden and more physical symptoms were associated inter alia with more negative coping strategies, less conscientiousness and lower empathy. Conclusion: The findings support the notion of reduced self-reported stress burden, and improved general health and stress resistance in paramedics. In addition to health benefits, stress tolerance may contribute to the prevention of performance decline during situations in which health and life are at stake.

Conclusion

In summary, this study revealed evidence of lower self-experienced stress burden, less somatic complaints, increased parasympathetic tone and reduced autonomic reactivity to aversive affective stimuli and cognitive challenge in paramedics vs. professionals from other disciplines. Together with the observation a reduced propensity towards using negative coping strategies, these findings may indicate marked stress-resistance in this group. Lower levels of empathy, as well as a greater tendency towards conscientiousness, can also be regarded as favorable with respect to the professional requirements of emergency services workers. This accords with our findings that the use of adaptive coping strategies, as well as high conscientiousness and limited empathy, were associated with lower levels of perceived stress and improved physical health in paramedics. Various experimental studies have indicated that the job performance of paramedics and health professionals strongly depends on their current stress level (e.g., LeBlanc, 2009). As such, in addition to health benefits, stress tolerance and adequate coping skills may also contribute to the prevention of stress-related performance decline during situations in which health, and even lives, are at stake.