Self-Acceptance, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Post-Traumatic Growth, and the Role of Social Support in Chinese Rescue Workers

Abstract

Previous studies have suggested that the prevalence of mental health problems in rescue workers is relatively high. The current study investigates the relationship between Self-Acceptance, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG) in Chinese rescue workers by examining the mediating role of social support. A sample of 297 Chinese medical rescue workers completed self-reported questionnaires, including the Self-Acceptance Questionnaire S-AQ), the Social Acknowledgement Questionnaire (SAQ), the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). A structural equation model (SEM) approach was used. The results indicated that our model fitted the data adequately (χ²/df = 2.150, RMSEA = 0.062, TLI = 0.978, CFI = 0.987) and suggested that social support partially mediated the relationship between self-acceptance, PTSD and PTG. The clinical implications and limitations of this research and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Keywords:

• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• post-traumatic growth
• self-acceptance
• social support
• rescue workers

Disclosure statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to this research, authorship, and/or the publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by The National Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (Project No. 18KJB190004) and The Philosophy and Social Science Foundation of Jiangsu (Project No. 18SHC004) and Philosophy and The Social Sciences of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (Project No. 2018SJZDI206).

Notes on contributors

Yue Zhao

Yue Zhao is a postgraduate student in the School of Psychology at the Nanjing Normal University. Her research focuses on trauma and left-behind children.

Yuanyuan An

Yuanyuan An is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the Nanjing Normal University. She has contributed to research projects and published manuscripts related to trauma psychology.

Xiaoran Sun

Xiaoran Sun is a postgraduate student in the School of Psychology at the Nanjing Normal University. Her research focuses on trauma and migrant children.

Jianghong Liu

Jianghong Liu is a Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. She involves public health concerns using population-based epidemiology approaches to address mental health and behavioral outcomes.