Selected aspects of the psychosocial functioning of medical personnel of emergency medical teams—a cross-sectional study

TL;DR

This study explores stress and coping strategies among emergency medical workers, finding high stress levels and gender differences in psychological resources.

Contribution

The study identifies correlations between age, work experience, and psychological resilience in emergency medical personnel.

Findings

Respondents showed high stress levels and low psychological resilience.

Women reported higher resilience and work engagement but higher stress than men.

Older workers and those with longer experience had lower psychological resources.

Abstract

A paramedic is one of the most mentally demanding professions, requiring responsibility for the health and lives of patients, quick decision-making, and contact with suffering and death. Due to the unpredictable nature of their line of work, this professional group faces high levels of stress. Identifying protective factors, such as personal resources, self-efficacy, and commitment to work, helps better understand the mechanisms of coping in difficult situations and enables corrective and preventive measures to be taken. The aim of the study is to identify and analyse in detail occupational stress among emergency medical service workers, in relation to respondents’ psychological resources, work engagement, sense of self-efficacy, and strategies for coping with difficult situations.

The survey, delivered online via Google between May and September 2025, targeted paramedics and nurses working at the Provincial Ambulance Service in Białystok (north-eastern Poland). A diagnostic survey method was used, employing a proprietary questionnaire and standardised tools such as the Resilience Measurement Scale (SPP-25), the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and the Inventory for Measuring Coping with Stress (Mini-COPE).

The mean age of the respondents (n = 150) was 43.17 years. The study group consisted of 51.3% women and 48.0% men. The majority of respondents had a master’s degree in nursing (42.7%) or a bachelor’s degree in emergency medicine (32.0%). The study revealed that respondents reported high levels of stress (PSS-10 score of 22.31), moderate self-efficacy (GSES score of 27.6), moderate work engagement (UWES score of 3.52), and low psychological resilience (SPP-25 score of 64.95). In terms of coping strategies (Mini-COPE), respondents most often sought emotional and instrumental support and relied on humour and planning strategies. The results indicated significant negative correlations between age and length of service (r = −0.58; p < 0.001; rho = −0.52; p < 0.001) with psychological resilience, with overall commitment to work (r = −0.56; p < 0.001; rho = −0.61; p < 0.001) and negative correlations between age and length of service with self-efficacy (r = −0.43; p < 0.001; rho = −0.41; p < 0.001). The number of hours worked was negatively correlated with perceived stress (r = −0.26; p < 0.01). Women scored significantly higher on overall psychological resilience (p = 0.003) and work engagement (p = 0.002), while perceived stress levels were significantly higher among women than men (p = 0.006).

The respondents were characterised by moderate to high perceived work stress, low psychological resilience, and moderate work engagement and self-efficacy. Dominant coping strategies included emotion-focused, problem-focused, and adaptive strategies. Older individuals with longer work experience had lower levels of psychological resources. Respondents differed by gender in terms of their psychological resources and work engagement.