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Perceived Self-efficacy during an Emergency Situation Reduces Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2013

Elisa Saccinto ,
Lola Vallès ,
Ed Hilterman ,
Malin Roiha ,
Luca Pietrantoni  and
Carles Pérez-Testor
Elisa Saccinto*
Affiliation:
Universitat Ramon Llull (Spain)
Lola Vallès
Affiliation:
Institut de Seguretat Pública de Catalunya (Spain)
Ed Hilterman
Affiliation:
Justa Mesura, Consultoria & Investigació Aplicada (Spain)
Malin Roiha
Affiliation:
Institut de Seguretat Pública de Catalunya (Spain)
Luca Pietrantoni
Affiliation:
Università di Bologna (Italy)
Carles Pérez-Testor
Affiliation:
Universitat Ramon Llull (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Elisa Saccinto. FPCEE–Blanquerna. Universitat Ramon Llull. [email protected]. carrer Císter 34. 08022. Barcelona (Spain).
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Abstract

This study investigates if perceived self-efficacy during an emergency situation has a protective role in the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms among Italian and Spanish survivors of several emergency situations. We explored the impact of self-efficacy in a multiple regression model including other predictors of posttraumatic stress symptoms, such as emergency prevention knowledge; trust in emergency services; risk perception of becoming a victim of an emergency situation; and conscious and active behaviors in comparison with no conscious and no active behavior during the emergency. We carried out a retrospective study recruiting 214 participants who reported their experience as victims of one specific emergency event. Results showed that survivors who perceived themselves as more self-efficacious during the traumatic event had less posttraumatic stress symptoms. In contrast, female gender, more self-threat perception and higher trauma severity were associated with more symptoms. Findings contribute to better understand human behavior in emergency situations and evidence the protective role of perceived self-efficacy beliefs among survivors of emergency situations.

Keywords

posttraumatic stressself-efficacyrisk factorsemergency situationtrauma
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 16 , 2013 , E56
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2013 

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Footnotes

This paper was written on behalf of the BeSeCu-group. The project BeSeCu (contract No. 218324) is funded under the European Union Framework program 7 - Security and Space. The authors acknowledge the collaboration of their project partners: Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, Germany (Silke Schmidt – project coordinator, Daniela Knuth, and Doris Kehl); Hamburg Fire and Emergency Service Academy, Germany (Frank Seidler and Eberhard Diebe); University of Greenwich, UK (Ed Galea and Lynn Hulse); Institut de Seguretat Pública de Catalunya, Spain (Jordi Sans, Malin Roiha, and Lola Vallès); Prague Psychiatric Centre, Czech Republic (Marek Preiss, Marie Sotolarova, and Marketa Holubova); MTO Säkerhet AB (MTO Safety AB), Sweden (Lena Kecklund, Sara Petterson, and Kristin Andrée); Main School of Fire Service, Poland (Jerzy Wolanin and Grzegorz Beltowski); Association of Emergency Ambulance Physicians, Turkey (Zeynep Baskaya and Turhan Sofuoglu); Università of Bologna, Italy (Luca Pietrantoni and Elisa Saccinto); in undertaking this work and in allowing the project findings to be published.
This research was supported in part by grants from the Comissió Universitat i Recerca, Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament d’Innovació, Universitats i Empresa, and from the European Social Fund, which gave a fellowship (FI -Formació de Personal Investigador Novel) to Elisa Saccinto for her Doctorate Program. This project was also supported by the Department of Psychology (Blanquerna APR-FPCEE 11/12).

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