Saving lives is a hard work: emotion regulation in the work of paramedics

Abstract

The role of emotions is to coordinate and regulate responses to stimuli of different complexity. Emotion regulation is a heterogeneous process, by which emotions themselves are regulated (Gross, Thompson, 2007). The aim of this qualitative study is to identify automatic or effortful conscious processes of emotion regulation at work in paramedics. Methods. Sample consisted of 13 paramedics aged between 33 and 57 years with minimum practice of 5 years, from different parts of Slovakia. There were 3 women and 11 men. Procedure. Individual retrospective semi-structured interviews based on Critical Decision Method (Hoffmann et al., 1998) were conducted and analyzed. Participants were asked to remember a particular non-routine critical incident. In-depth interviews focused on their decision strategies and emotion regulation strategies. Data collected were analyzed by Inductive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). A model was developed in which different situational triggers provoked two sorts of emotions (wanted and unwanted) and strategies by which they were regulated. Discussion is based on Gross (1998) theory of emotion regulation. Based on this model, trainings of emotion regulation in paramedics have been prepared. (Supported by VEGA 2/0080/14)