Stress in volunteer mountain rescue teams

Abstract

The aim of the study was to present the sources of stress in mountain rescue teams, the preferred kind of coping and the level of the burnout syndrome in mountain rescue teams. CISS (Endler, Parker), MBI (Maslach) and Sources of Stress in Mountain Rescues Work Questionnaire (Basiaga-Pasternak, Pomykała) were used. Participants comprised 47 males from Bieszczady Mountain Rescue Team. Results show that the most stressful situations are connected with the rescuee’s death or health damage. The most popular style of coping in the researched group is task-oriented. High professional stress level was found to be characteristic of rescuers who suffered from the burnout syndrome.