Objectives: Post-traumatic growth (PTG) and post-traumatic depreciation (PTD) can be defined, respectively, as positive and negative changes in the aftermath of trauma. These changes can be assigned to the following domains: personal strength, relating to others, new possibilities, appreciation of life, spiritual and existential change. The aim of this study was to explore the possibility that positive and negative effects of trauma can coexist and explore the categories of effect. Methods: 72 participants were asked to recount their experience of trauma and answer questions about how it had affected their thinking about themselves and the world. Participants’ narratives were analyzed by competent judges and using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count. Results: The domains in which positive changes were most frequently observed were Personal Strength (26.09%), Relating to Others (24.22%), and Appreciation of Life (21.12%). Negative changes mainly affected Relating to Others (33.33%) and Personal Strength (23.33%). The results were confirmed by quantitative analysis of narratives: participants’ narratives of trauma and its consequences contained more words which expressing positive emotions (1.67%) than negative emotions (0.90%), paired-sample t (60) = 9.70, p < 0.001. There were correlations between the frequency of words referring to positive emotions and PTG, r (62) = 0.39, p < 0.01, and between the frequency of words referring to negative emotions and PTG, r (62) = 0.23, p < 0.05. Conclusion: PTG and PTD can coexist and they can be regarded as outcomes of two separate processes. The study results also suggest that although PTG and PTD can coexist, they may be considered different domains of psychological functioning.

No abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic, which is responsible for COVID-19 disease, is a catastrophic global crisis, which is the background for individual emotional crises. One of the most vulnerable groups are medical staff, including nurses-especially those who are professionally most active during the pandemic. Preventive measures that have been taken in Asian countries in this target group include mainly problem-focused strategies. These are the same strategies that have already been used by Polish nursing teams in difficult work-related situations. The skills and potential of nursing teams aimed at activating these strategies during the epidemic will constitute a significant indicator of constructive coping with the crisis, not only in the case of individuals but also on a nationwide or even universal scale.