Predictors of postevent distress and growth among firefighters after work-related emergencies--A cross-national study

Firefighters may experience posttraumatic stress symptomatology (i.e., postevent distress) as a consequence of exposure to work-related distressing incidents. However, positive psychological changes (i.e., postevent growth) should also be taken into account. The aim of this cross-national study was to investigate both postevent distress and growth in firefighters following distressing incidents. A sample of 1,916 firefighters from 8 predominantly European countries recalled a work-related distressing incident. Two hierarchical regression analyses were run to reveal predictors of postevent distress and growth, respectively. Predictors included person pre-event characteristics, objective (e.g., type of incident, time since incident, fatalities) and subjective (e.g., perceived life-threat, peri-event distress, most distressing aspect) incident features, and the participant's country. Postevent distress was measured by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and growth by the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory-Short Form (PTGI-SF). The final models explained 29% of the variation in postevent distress and 26% in growth. Postevent distress and growth were predicted by different variables. Country differences were found after controlling for all other variables. Further research is needed to explain these differences.