Jo Mildenhall

Paramedic

United Kingdom

Doctorate Title: Responding to Trauma: Psychosocial, Relational and Emotional Experiences of Working Frontline within the NHS Ambulance Services, during the Covid-19 Pandemic..

Doctorate Description: In this study, I will be exploring paramedics and ambulance staff (including managers) occupational experiences of working frontline during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Through focused ethnography, I am investigating how occupational psychological distress features within NHS ambulance services culture during the pandemic crisis. In particular, I am exploring the psychosocial, and relational contexts of distress/ trauma (including the individual, interpersonal and group settings), how behaviours and beliefs shape how people and organizations experience, process, and manage this distress, and the role social relationships play in mediating traumatic experiences.

Subsequently, one of the aims of the research is to conceptualize a framework for understanding how, in this unique working environment, mediating psychological distress is likely to be highly dependent upon psychosocial phenomena. A further aim is to practically establish recommendations for enhancing the psychosocial and emotional wellbeing of ambulance personnel both during and after a large-scale incident such as a pandemic.