[Coping with stress in various rescue groups]

The main purpose of this study was checking if the above mentioned groups differentiate from each other according to the coping styles used by them; if yes, what does it depend on?

The Authors studied three groups of rescue services, representing three different formations. There were: Firemen, Ambulance services members and Policemen (preventive troupes). A few well known psychological methods were used, among them: CISS-Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (in polish adaptation), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (in polish adaptation) and Eysenck's-Maudsley Personality Inventory (in polish adaptation).

The obtained results allowed to formulate some important conclusions. There were no statistically significant differences among the groups as far as the two coping styles were concerned--task and avoidance oriented. Emotionally oriented coping style is the one in which there are statistically significant differences between the researched groups. The Firemen group has the highest score in the emotional coping style.

Using the coping styles (the most effective too), dependence mostly on the personality traits. It means that personality traits should be an essential condition in the way of accepting new members of rescue groups. The personality traits, beside the professional training, are responsible for effective coping in extremely difficult situations.