SPSS 2 Studies
Description
Background Civil Protection personnel—firefighters and emergency responders—work under chronic and acute stressors that place them at elevated risk of burnout and impaired mental health, yet evidence on how distress shapes their selection of coping strategies remains scarce in North African settings. Within Lazarus and Folkman's transactional framework, we examined the antecedents of three coping styles—problem-focused, emotion-focused, and support-seeking—in Algerian Civil Protection workers. Methods We report two cross-sectional studies of Civil Protection workers in Oran, Algeria. In Study 1 (N = 51), burnout and the three coping styles were assessed and a standard multiple regression tested whether coping accounted for burnout. In Study 2 (N = 66), perceived stress (PSS-14) and general psychological distress (GHQ-28) were entered simultaneously to predict each coping style. To complement the regressions and model the variables as a system, we additionally specified path (structural-equation) models estimated from the study covariance matrices, comparing a saturated model with a parsimonious, theoretically constrained model in each study. Results In Study 1, emotion-focused coping was the only significant correlate and predictor of burnout (β = .728, p < .001), and the regression explained 40% of the variance; a path model in which emotion-focused coping was the sole direct route to burnout fit the data well (χ²(2) = 1.73, p = .42; CFI = 1.00; RMSEA = .00; SRMR = .035), confirming it as the unique coping pathway. In Study 2, distress and perceived stress jointly predicted greater problem-focused (R² = .456) and emotion-focused coping (R² = . 252), whereas support-seeking was predicted by distress alone (R² = .333); a path model specifying these distinct channels fit well (χ²(1) = 0.81, p = . 37; CFI = 1.00; RMSEA = .00; SRMR = .026). Across studies, emotionfocused coping emerged as the strategy most consistently tied to adverse psychological states. Conclusions The findings extend the transactional model to high-risk emergency work in an under-represented cultural setting and support occupational interventions that strengthen adaptive emotion regulation and problem-focused coping. Limitations include small convenience samples, cross-sectional design, and reliance on self-report; the path models are estimated from modest samples and should be read as confirmatory and illustrative rather than definitive.
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Institutions
- University of Oran 2 Mohamed Ben AhmedOran, Oran