Critical incident stress in Victoria State Emergency Service volunteers : characteristics of critical incidents, common stress responses, and coping methods.

Reprinted from Australian Psychologist, Vol. 27, No. 3, Nov. 1992, pp.159-165

This study was an exploratory investigation of key elements in Critical Incident Stress in 25 volunteer members of the Victoria State Emergency Service, a service which responds to road accident rescues in Victoria, amongst other emergency activities. The principal findings were as follows: (a) six factors were found to be most characteristic of Critical Incidents (CIs), and these factors reflected three themes, namely knowing or identifying with the victim or their family; large scale incidents; and surprise or novelty of the event; (b) stress response often did not occur during the CI, those symptoms which did emerge were predominantly cognitive; (c) after a CI, cognitive and physiological responses were most common; (d) avoidance styles of coping (eg. "keep active" and "switch off") were more common during a CI, whereas approach styles of coping (eg. "discussion" and "debriefing") were more common afterwards; (e) participants reported having learnt how to cope more effectively following a CI, and some reported having changed their attitudes into a more positive outlook on life, and road safety. The implications of the findings for a cognitive model of Critical Incidents and directions for future research are discussed.