Post-traumatic Stress Experienced by Firefighters and Paramedics

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the post-traumatic stress experiences of firefighters and paramedics. Methods: The participants were 20 fire fighters and paramedics who belong to the Busan Fire Department. Data were collected through in-depth, unstructured audio-taped interviews by the investigator over a six-month period. The participants were asked to describe their post-traumatic stress. The data were analyzed according to Giorgi's method for phenomenological analysis. Results: The interview data were organized by theme into 7 categories that emerged from the analysis. Participants faced various post-traumatic stresses working as fire fighters or paramedics. The categories were suffering from disastrous situations, feeling of fear and helplessness in the face of death, re-experiencing vividly the past traumatic situation, avoiding painful reminders of the trauma, emotional numbing as time passes, suffering from emotional arousal and increased anxiety, and struggling to cope with the post-traumatic stress. Conclusion: This study provides a better understanding of post-traumatic stress experiences from fire fighters and paramedics and the knowledge gained from this study will help in developing appropriate post-traumatic stress management programs