Hardiness and Coping Strategies as Mediators of Stress and Secondary Trauma in Emergency Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Open accessAbstract
The work environment of emergency workers is an important factor related to stress. Coping with the COVID-19 emergency is a factor that is highly related to stress, and severe stress is a risk factor for developing secondary trauma. Coping and resilience can help rescue workers to better respond in emergency situations and could protect them from secondary trauma. We aimed to explore the relationship of emergency stress, hardiness, coping strategies, and secondary trauma among emergency workers and the mediating roles of coping strategies and hardiness on the effect of stress in producing secondary trauma. The study involved 513 emergency workers from the Red Cross Committee in Veneto, one of the Italian regions most affected by the COVID-19. Participants completed questionnaires online to measure emergency stress (physical, emotional, cognitive, organizational‒relational, COVID-19, and inefficacy decisional), hardiness, coping strategies, and secondary trauma. Other variables analyzed were age, gender, weekly hours of service, and use of personal protective equipment (PPE). We performed t-tests, a correlational analysis, regressions, and a mediation analysis. Hardiness and coping strategies, in particular, which stop unpleasant emotions and thoughts and problem-focused, emerged as mediators in reducing the predicted effect of stress on secondary trauma. The mediating effects of hardiness and coping strategies were found to reduce the effect of stress on arousal by 15% and the effect on avoidance by 25%.
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Coping strategies significantly mediated the association between stress due to COVID-19 work and secondary trauma among Italian emergency workers.
“coping strategies significantly mediated the association between stress due to COVID-19 work and secondary trauma among Italian emergency workers [20].”
From Associations between COVID-19 Work-Related Stressors and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms among Chinese Doctors and Nurses: Application of Stress-Coping Theory (2022) · cites this paper as [20]
The mediation results (section 5, Discussion; page unavailable) report significant effects of problem-focused coping and stopping unpleasant emotions and thoughts on the relationship between total stress and the arousal and avoidance components of secondary trauma. The analysis used total stress, not a COVID-19-work-specific stress measure, and found no significant mediation for intrusion. The claim therefore captures the main finding but states it more broadly than the results support. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredTwo empirical studies showed that hardiness and resilience mediated the association between COVID-19-related stress and post-trauma psychopathology among emergency workers and university students.
“For instance, two empirical studies showed that hardiness and resilience mediated the association between COVID-19-related stress and post-trauma psychopathology among emergency workers and university students [19,20].”
From Associations between COVID-19 Work-Related Stressors and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms among Chinese Doctors and Nurses: Application of Stress-Coping Theory (2022) · cites this paper as [20]
The Discussion reports that hardiness and coping strategies mediated the association between stress and the arousal and avoidance components of secondary trauma in emergency workers; it reports no mediation effect for intrusion. This paper did not test resilience as a separate mediator. The university-student finding appears to concern the other study cited in the sentence, not this source. (LLM, conf=0.87)
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References 100 · Cited by 58
Research works printed but not linked: 10
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- Authors
- Vagni, M., Maiorano, T., Giostra, V., & Pajardi, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Urbino (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Pajardi, Daniela
- Venue
- Sustainability
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2020-09-14
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 18
- Pages
- 7561
- ISSN
- 2071-1050 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3085823313
- Cited by
- 58
- References
- 100
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 12.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Sustainability (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- CINECA IRIS Institutional Research information system (University of Urbino) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Resilience and Mental Health
- Keywords
- hardiness, coping strategies, secondary traumatic stress, emergency workers, occupational stress, COVID-19 pandemic, Red Cross volunteers, mediation, resilience, problem-focused coping, emotional arousal, avoidance, personal protective equipment
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