Personal resources and negative and positive effects of traumatic events in a group of medical rescuers

Background: The purpose of the research was to investigate the role of personal resources, such as optimism and sense of selfefficacy in both negative (posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms) and positive (posttraumatic growth – PTG) effects of experienced trauma in a group of emergency service representatives. Material and Methods: Data of 100 medical rescue workers, mostly men (59%) who have experienced traumatic events in their worksite were analyzed. The age of the participants ranged from 24 to 60 years (mean = 37.43; standard deviation = 8.73). Polish versions of the Impact of Event Scale – Revised and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory were used to assess the negative and positive effects of experienced events. Optimism was assessed by the Life Orientation Test and sense of self-efficacy by the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale. Results: The obtained results revealed that optimism is negatively associated with symptoms of PTSD in men, and sense of self-efficacy – positively with the severity of growth after trauma in women. Conclusions: The analyzed personal resources play a diverse role in the emergence of negative and positive effects of experienced traumatic events, depending on the gender of the respondents. Med Pr 2016;67(5):635–64