Comparison of the effectiveness of resiliency training and emotion regulation on perceived stress and anxiety sensitivity in firefighting staff

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of resiliency training and emotion regulation training on perceived stress and anxiety sensitivity in firefighting staff. The method of this study was experimental and its design was multi-group pre-test and post-test with control group. The statistical population of this study consisted of all employees of Ardebil Fire Department in autumn 1977. Forty-five of them were randomly selected and were randomly assigned into three groups: resiliency training (n = 15), emotion regulation training (n = 15) and control group (n = 15). All three groups completed the demographic, perceived stress questionnaire of Cohen et al. (1983) and Floyd et al. (2005) anxiety questionnaires in pre-test and post-test. The data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance and Bonferroni post hoc test. The results of covariance analysis showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the three groups of resiliency training, emotion regulation training and control in perceived stress scores and anxiety sensitivity (p <0.01). Post-test results also showed that emotion regulation training was more effective on fear of physical anxiety (P <0.01). Overall, the results showed that both resiliency training and emotion regulation were effective on perceived stress and anxiety sensitivity in firefighters.