# A systematic review of post-traumatic growth in ambulance personnel: facilitators and prevalence rates

## TL;DR

This paper reviews how ambulance workers experience positive psychological changes after trauma, finding that about half show post-traumatic growth, influenced by factors like coping and resilience.

## Contribution

The first systematic review examining post-traumatic growth prevalence and facilitators specifically in ambulance personnel.

## Key findings

- Pooled prevalence of post-traumatic growth (PTG) in ambulance personnel is 52%.
- Facilitators of PTG include adaptive coping, resilience, and being female.
- Research quality on PTG in this population ranges from satisfactory to excellent.

## Abstract

Ambulance personnel are exposed to traumatic and stressful situations, which can increase the risk of mental health conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). High rates of PTSD have been found in ambulance personnel (Petrie et al., 2018), but no review is available to examine post-traumatic growth (PTG - positive psychological change following a trauma) in this population. This literature review provides an overview of the prevalence rates and facilitators that may contribute to PTG in ambulance personnel.

A systematic search was conducted on EBSCOhost in January 2024 across the following six databases: Academic Search Ultimate, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, MEDLINE, ERIC and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) Ultimate.

Eleven papers were identified for this review. Pooled prevalence of PTG was moderate (52%), and facilitators for PTG were grouped into five categories: coping style/strategies, resilience, personality traits, gender and incident characteristics.

Numerous facilitators contributed to the development of PTG, although these did not arise in all papers. The quality of research ranged from satisfactory to excellent. Evidence suggested that adaptive coping style, high levels of resilience, the absence of a personality trait (neuroticism) and being female may facilitate PTG. Further research is needed to support the reliability of findings.