Souvent confrontés à des incidents critiques potentiellement traumatogènes, les pompiers peuvent vivre des changements négatifs et parfois positifs. Cette étude tente d’explorer et de prédire la croissance post-traumatique, le trouble de stress post-traumatique et les stratégies de coping des pompiers professionnels et volontaires français. La Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, l’Inventaire de Croissance Post-Traumatique, l’inventaire Brief-Cope et un entretien semi-directif de recherche ont été utilisés auprès de seize participants, répartis en deux groupes d’effectifs égaux : un groupe de huit pompiers professionnels et un autre de huit pompiers volontaires. La croissance post-traumatique était prédite à 63.4 % par la symptomatologie traumatique (altération de l’éveil et de la réactivité) et par les stratégies de coping (évitement et pensées positives). Les changements spirituels prédisaient à 24.9 % la détresse post-traumatique. Les pompiers qui n’étaient pas parents présentaient davantage de croissance post-traumatique et de pensées positives que les pompiers parents. Il n’y avait pas de différence de résultats statistiques entre le groupe pompiers volontaires et le groupe pompiers professionnels.

Often faced with potentially traumatic critical incidents, firefighters may experience both negative and positive changes. These include full or partial post-traumatic stress disorder, specific coping strategies and possibly post-traumatic growth. For firefighters, these factors might be related, and their experiences may be possibly different depending on the status of the participants (professional vs volunteer firefighters).

The aim of this study is to explore and predict post-traumatic growth, post-traumatic stress disorder and coping strategies in a sample of French professional and volunteer firefighters.

A mixed research methodology was used. The Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory, the Brief-Cope Inventory, and a semi-structured research interview were used with sixteen participants, divided into two equal groups: a group of eight professional firefighters and a group of eight volunteer firefighters.

Post-traumatic growth was predicted at 63.4 % by traumatic symptomatology (altered arousal and reactivity) and by coping strategies (avoidance and positive thoughts). Spiritual changes predicted post-traumatic distress at 24.9 %. Firefighters who were not parents had more post-traumatic growth and positive thoughts than those who had children. There were no statistical difference between the volunteer and professional firefighter groups. Volunteer firefighters felt more vulnerable to critical incidents than professional firefighters because they have access to fewer effective resources.

Post-traumatic growth among firefighters could be explained by post-traumatic distress and coping strategies. Other factors influencing post-traumatic growth would need to be investigated (coping flexibility, parenting, a sense of self-efficacy).