Psychologie a její kontexty, Vol.6, No.2

Stratégie starostlivosti o seba u pracovníkov rizikových profesií

Self-care strategies among risky profession workers

Katarína Vasková

Starostlivosť o seba môže v kontexte rizikových profesií zohrávať dôležitejšiu úlohu než u ľudí pracujúcich v bežných povolaniach, nakoľko môže byť zdrojom informácií potrebných pre zlepšenie schopnosti čeliť záťaži, s ktorou sa profesionáli denne stretávajú. Cieľom predkladaného príspevku bolo identifikovať najčastejšie podoby starostlivosti o seba vo vybraných rizikových profesiách. V druhej časti bola pozornosť sústredená na porovnanie špecifík profesionálov so zamestnancami pracujúcimi v nerizikových odvetviach. Pri zbere údajov bol použitý Dotazník starostlivosti o seba autorov Hricovej a Lovaša (v tlači). Výsledky potvrdili dominanciu psychologickej starostlivosti o seba nad fyzickou. Rozdiely medzi jednotlivými profesiami však neboli zistené. V porovnaní s bežnými povolaniami pracovníci vykonávajúci rizikové profesie sa výrazne viac starajú o svoje zdravie - tak duševné, ako aj fyzické. Tu sa však ukázali isté jedinečnosti s ohľadom na konkrétny typ rizikovej profesie.

Klíčová slova:
starostlivosť o seba, rizikové profesie, zdravie

Taking care of oneself is crucial for maintaining one´s psychical and physical health. In the context of risky profession this topic can play an even more important role, because it can be the source of necessary information for improvement of coping capacity when one is confronted with crisis situations. The aim of the present study is to identify the most common forms of self-care among selected risky professions. In the second part is the attention focused on the comparison of the specificities of risky to non-risky professions in self-care. Methods: For data collection Self-regulation Self-care Questionnaire by authors Hricová and Lovaš (in press) is used. The sample consists of two groups. In the first one participated 156 respondents, who worked in risky professions - namely police officers (60) at the age between 22 to 55 years (average age is 36.88, SD=9.49), fire fighters (46) at the age between 22 to 62 years (average age is 35.13, SD=8.31) and paramedics (50) at the age between 25 to 55 years (average age is 40.3, SD=6.62). 76.2% of the sample are men, 19.0% are women and 4,8% didn´t state their gender. The second sample consists of 161 participants who work in administrative, industry production or IT sphere. They were at the age between 23 to 61 years (average age is 38.01, SD=10.45). 74% of the sample are men and 21.7% are women. Results and discussion: Results confirmed the dominance of psychological self-care above physical among risky professions. To the forefront gets the need to live meaningful life, to fully use one´s skills and to be satisfied with one´s life and decisions. All this needs can be assigned to the necessity of sense, which could be seen as a result of everyday contact with critical and life threaten situations. Equally important sphere of self-care is the necessity of high-quality relationships, which doesn´t mean only relationships with family or friends. It is important to highlight also relationships with colleagues, that can help in dealing with risky situations and therefore shouldn´t be overlooked. In comparison with non-risky professions professionals care significantly more about their physical and psychical health. Closer analysis showed some uniqueness with respect to a particular type of risky profession. Police officers and fire fighters are more interested in their physical condition, which is important for example in rescuing a person from an object in fire or in a situation where physical force needs to be used. In comparison with it, paramedics use more psychical self-care strategies, namely they are trying more to control their negative emotional state, to minimize risky situation and to preserve health. Lastly they are caring more about their personal improvement. This study has several limits. Equality of gender in sample should be taken to account in future researches. We also recommend to involve other risky professions to the analysis (for example soldiers). Results can be used as a basis for trainee or education programs, which could help professionals in dealing with traumatic situations.

Keywords:
self-care, risky professions, health