The role of attachment styles in the prediction of posttraumatic stress disorder in emergency nurses

Evidences indicated that attachment styles are important in people’s adjustment with stressful situations. Therefore، this study has been carried out to assess the role of attachment styles in the prediction of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in emergency nurses. It was a descriptive-correlational study. The statistical population of this study was all the emergency nurses of Uroumieh hospitals in 2010. 100 people of the population were selected randomly for this study. All the participants were tested individually by Mississippi PTSD scale and attachment styles questionnaire at their work place. Data analysis was done by multivariate ANOVA tests and multiple regression analysis and SPSS17 software. According to PTSD scale، twenty participants of the study were suffering from PTSD. Comparing their attachment styles with the healthy group (the group without PTSD) it was shown that the group with PTSD took higher scores in terms of fearful and dismissive attachment styles in compare with healthy group (without PTSD). The results of multi-regression analysis showed that 10 percent of the total variance of individuals in PTSD scale was explained by attachment styles. Attachment styles are important in determining susceptibility of hospital emergency nurses to PTSD.