By Dr. Kelly R. Rasmussen Y ou know how people are saying that emergency dispatchers have PTSD? And you know how those who have been around the job for a long time are nodding their heads in agreement? Everywhere you look there is a session, article, or class on stress and burnout concerning the 9-1-1 dispatcher. That is a good thing! I thought it was time to highlight the ways to help you either not go to that dark, dark place or-better yet-build the resolve so you can bounce back and still survive until retirement. My company and my coaching programs are testaments to that, which is why I wrote my dissertation on protective factors and resiliency. In 1991, Burke sounded an alarm that emergency dispatchers were undergoing immense stress and strain.' Years later, in 2005, Burgess found correlations between training, support and coping. Still, it took Troxell, in 2008, reporting on vicarious trauma that started the public safety com- munications world buzzing. Add Goold and Sotebeer's studies and you see the wide-rang- ing concerns regarding compassion fatigue, job stress, retention and health concerns for emergency dispatch personnel. Consider this: In the state of Michigan, where I started as a dispatcher, there are more than 1,500 dispatchers answering 5,680,367 calls annually, and they cannot make a mis- take. Bring on the next generation of 9-1-1 advancements, such as "text-to-9-1-1" and eventually "video-to-9-1-1," and you have mul- tiple layers that require coping mechanisms and protective factors to insulate emergency dispatchers from trauma, stress and burnout. I thought it was important to focus on protecting these dispatchers. The focus of my study on these amazing heroes is "Protective Factors and Resiliency in Emergency 9-1-1 Dispatchers. Too many people, too many Using both the COPE Inventory Scale and the Resilience Scale, my study found significant correlations. First, respondents reported their ages: 20-29 (12 percent), 30-39 (43 percent), 40-49 (37 percent) and 50-61 (33 percent). They reported years of experience: Less than one year (2 percent), 1-5 years (18 percent), 6-10 years (21 percent), 11-20 years (36 percent), 21-30 years (19 percent) and 31-38 years (4 percent). They reported education levels: high school or some college (60 percent), associate (15 percent), bachelor's (25 per- cent) and master's (5 percent). Respondents reported how many hours worked per week: Less than 40 (34 percent), 40-45 hours (22 percent), and 46 hours and above (43 per- cent). Frequency of extreme calls per week was self-reported: 114 said they experience an extreme call once or twice a week, and 82 said they experience an extreme call three or more times a week. As described on the COPE Inventory, which includes problem-focused and emo- tion-focused behaviors, the following were identified protective factors: Active coping: Includes activities to help Self-reliance Equanimity Existential aloneness If anyone has been in the 9-1-1 profes- sion a substantial length of time, you might guess that any of the protective factors and coping characteristics could be readily deployed in times of stress and possibly surmise that the correlations must be some- what significant. FINDINGS What prevailed from Research Question 1 was that active coping is a statistically significant predictor, as well as planning. Restraint coping and suppression of com- peting activities were not statistically predictors. In Research Question 2, positive rein- terpretation and growth were statistically significant predictors while seeking of emotional support, turning to religion and denial were not statistically significant predictors. In Research Question 3, behavioral dis- engagement was the only predictor that demonstrated a statistically significant Dispatchers. Too many people, too many news articles and too many "experts" will tell you that the 9-1-1 system needs help because of turnover, poor customer service or negativity- all symptoms, not the true ailment. The results of my study depict deeper reasons why negativ- ity abounds and why good dispatchers turn bad or leave altogether. Coping mechanisms and protective factors, such as family and social support, are lacking or misunderstood. Theoretically speaking, Benard insisted that people's resilience serves to overcome obstacles and deal with stress during the course of their lives. Furthermore, building those frameworks is crucial to coping and overcoming. (I wish I had this knowledge in 1986 when all I had for stress training was throwing the Yellow Pages against a wall.) For my study, I used a quantitative, cor- relational design that utilized primary data (N=196). Three research questions were: 1. How are problem-focused coping strate- gies associated with resiliency in emer- gency dispatchers? 2. How are emotion-focused coping strate- gies associated with resiliency in emer- gency dispatchers? 3. How are less adaptive coping strategies associated with resiliency in emergency dispatchers? Active coping: Includes activities to help remove stressors Planning: Strategizes ways to handle the problem Seeking emotional and instructional support: Turning toward other people or resources Restraint coping: Waiting to deal with the problem Focus on and venting of emotions: Considered maladaptive Disengagement: Either mentally or behav iorally; includes alternatives that divert attention Positive reinterpretation and growth: A hands-on, proactive approach Acceptance: Includes engagement and defining a strategy to deal with the prob- lem as it exists Denial: Refusal to deal with the problem including taking steps of avoidance Turning to religion: Seeking and involv ing external resources Building on previous studies that indi- cate high stress and correlations to suicide, burnout, heart disease and more, the resil- ience scale was used to examine character- istics of resilience: Perseverance . Meaningfulness demonstrated a statistically significant relationship with resiliency. ANALYSIS Therefore, there are predictors of resil- iency in emergency dispatchers when exam- ining protective factors as coping strategies. To summarize, this study did not look for cause and effect, rather predictors in resil- iency levels. And, as supported in the lit- erature, the findings highlight variables that predict a significant portion of the variance in reported resilience levels. In particular, lower levels of behavioral disen- gagement predicted higher reported levels of resiliency. Also, positive reinterpretation and growth, acceptance and active coping were found to significantly predict reported resiliency in emergency dispatchers. Findings partially supported in the literature: Certain environmental stressors are miti- gated and even counteract negative activ- ities by positive patterns of protective factors that enhance coping strategies. .The results indicated that higher levels of resiliency can be predicted in dispatchers' self-reported levels of positive reinterpre- tation and growth, acceptance, active coping, and behavioral disengagement.