The design and psychometric evaluation of the emergency medical services resilience scale (EMSRS)

The nature of pre-hospital emergency medical care can expose healthcare workers to significant stresses that might lead to psychological problems such as job burnout and impaired resilience. A valid and reliable tool is, therefore, needed to investigate resilience in emergency medical services (EMS) personnel. This study was conducted to design a tool for assessing the resilience of emergency medical personnel in Iran and to examine the psychometric properties of the designed tool.

This methodological study was conducted in two phases: A qualitative stage with individual interviews and a review of literature to generate items, and a quantitative stage of psychometric evaluations that assessed the face, content, and construct validity of the tool. The reliability of the tool was also assessed using the internal consistency and test-retest methods.

Exploratory factor analysis was used to design a 31-item scale with a six-factor structure. These six factors, i.e. job motivation, communication challenges, social support, remaining calm, self-management, and consequences of stress, explained 51.8% of the variance. The scale's Cronbach's alpha coefficient and intraclass correlation coefficient were calculated as 0.91 and 0.85, respectively.

The scale developed on the resilience of EMS personnel can be used as a valid and reliable tool for assessing resilience in EMS personnel. It can also assist emergency service managers to plan courses to improve their staff's resilience.