Anti-stress Training for Emergency Medical Workers: Possibilities, Directions, Evaluation of Effectiveness

The work is aimed at finding technologies to protect professionals from the ever-increasing negative stressors of their life and professional environment. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a short-term anti-stress training program for emergency medical workers. The study participants included employees of several emergency medical teams (n = 30, 73% women, 27% men; age 27–42 years (M = 32.2)) divided into an experimental (n = 15, 80% women, 20% men) and a control (n = 15, 67% women, 33% men) group. The study included two diagnostic measurements of the current state, stress level, and burnout of specialists before and after (10 days later) the anti-stress training program, which included 7 1.5-hour sessions over 14 days. The methods used were: “The scale-thermometer of self-assessment of the current state” (A.O. Prokhorov), Methodology for assessing the dominant state (DS-6 by L.V. Kulikova), Differential diagnostics of states of reduced performance (DORS by A.B. Leonova and S.B. Velichkovskaya), burnout test by K. Maslach (adaptation by Vodopyanova), stress level test by V.Yu. Shcherbatykh (2022 version). The results obtained indicate an improvement in the activity and performance indicators of the participants in anti-stress training, an increase in the subjective value of the activity and their contribution to the profession, a decrease in the level of fatigue, emotional and physiological manifestations of stress. Conclusion: the effectiveness of not only long-term but also short-term anti-stress training has been demonstrated, with a systematic organization of mastering the skills of self-regulation and personal resource growth.

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