Stress and Coping in Male and Female Health Care Providers during the Persian Gulf War: The USNS ComfortHospital Ship

The development of the USNS Comfort hospital ship during the Persian Gulf War provided an opportunity to examine the relationship of gender to stress and coping in health care providers exposed to wartime stressors. Just before the outbreak of Operation Desert Storm, medical personnel (N = 250) rated the stressfulness of current wartime experiences and the helpfulness of stress-reducing resources onboard ship in a combat theater. The responses of men and women were compared; to identify the dimensions of these responses, a principal factor analysis (orthogonal rotation) was performed. Generally, men and women ranked stressors and stress reducers similarly; women scored higher on the stress ratings. Two factors, similar for men and women, were identified in the stress ratings: fear of injury and trauma-related work demands. The dimensions of the stress reducers, however, were different for men and women. The findings support retrospective studies and suggest that different mechanisms of stress reduction may be operative even though men and women are performing the same activity.