Cognitive appraisal linked to managing psychological trauma

As a professional group, paramedics experience disproportionate levels of stress and burnout compared with other healthcare professionals and emergency workers. Evidence suggests that stressors include lack of control over decision-making and tensions with management, as well as the more traditional stressors, such as witnessing pain and distress, and being vulnerable to abuse.

Shepherd and Wild’s pilot study aimed to investigate possible links between how a situation is appraised at the time and how well that situation is coped with afterwards. This is important because the degree to which a person remains objective during a difficult event, and their ability to reappraise negative perceptions is strongly associated with recovery from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Forty-five participants (18 paramedics; 27 emergency medical technicians) were recruited to this study, which used a within-subjects design. They completed various scales including the post traumatic stress diagnostic scale; the Beck depression inventory; and a trauma screener exploring 19 different categories of traumatic events. After this, participants completed a ‘responding to difficult call-outs’ questionnaire. The participants had to identify two different but challenging calls: one where they felt they coped well, and one where they felt they coped poorly.