title: Positive Coping: A Unique Characteristic to Pre-Hospital Emergency Personnel.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is important to gain a thorough understanding of positive coping methods adopted by medical emergency personnel to manage stressful situations associated with accidents and emergencies. Thus, the purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of positive coping strategies used by emergency medical service providers.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted using a qualitative content analysis method. The study participants included 28 pre-hospital emergency personnel selected from emergency medical service providers in bases located in different regions of the city of Mashhad, Iran, from April to November 2016. The purposive sampling method also was used in this study, which was continued until data saturation was reached. To collect the data, semistructured open interviews, observations, and field notes were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four categories and 10 subcategories were extracted from the data on the experiences of pre-hospital emergency personnel related to positive coping strategies. The four categories included work engagement, smart capability, positive feedback, and crisis pioneering. All the obtained categories had their own subcategories, which were determined based on their distinctly integrated properties.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study show that positive coping consists of several concepts used by medical emergency personnel, management of stressful situations, and ultimately quality of pre-hospital clinical services. Given the fact that efficient methods such as positive coping can prevent debilitating stress in an individual, pre-hospital emergency authorities should seek to build and strengthen "positive coping" characteristics in pre-hospital medical emergency personnel to deal with accidents, emergencies, and injuries through adopting regular and dynamic policies.
authors.affiliation: Ph.D. of Nursing Education, Associate Professor, Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Faculty of Nursing, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ebadi
authors.affiliation: Ph.D. of Nursing Education, Assistant Professor, Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Razieh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Froutan
keywords: Content analysis; Positive coping; Pre-hospital emergency personnel; Qualitative study