Post-traumatic Growth of First Responders Scale for Firefighters: Scale Development and Validation

Although firefighters are likely to experience various types of personal growth following traumatic events, there has been a lack of reliable measurements to assess their positive changes. Therefore, this study aimed to develop and validate a post-traumatic growth (PTG) scale considering the unique occupational characteristics of firefighters as first responders.

This is a methodological study to develop and validate the PTG of first responders scale for firefighters (PTG-FIRSF). An item pool was generated after an extensive literature review including PTG theory, and individual interviews. Content, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, convergent, and discriminant validity, criterion validity, and known-group validity were conducted for the validity test. The scale was also evaluated for its internal consistency.

A four-factor structure was found with an eigenvalue >1, explaining 76.6% of the total variance. The final version of the PTG-FIRSF consisted of four factors with 21 items on a 6-point Likert scale: redefining of life's meaning (6 items), discovery of meaningful work (5 items), deepened interpersonal relationships (5 items), and growth in self-perception (5 items). The convergent validity and discriminant validity were established, and the criterion validity was confirmed by significant correlations between the PTG inventory-extended and PTG-FIRSF. Regarding known-group validity, the scores of "moderate and high level of PTG group" and "low level of PTG group" were significantly different in all domains. The reliability of the scale, measured by Cronbach α was .96.

This study demonstrates that the PTG-FIRSF could be a valid, reliable, and user-friendly measurement to evaluate the PTG of firefighters. The PTG-FIRSF can be useful for developing various PTG programs and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions.