‘We’re all in this together?’ The role of social identity processes in the collective experiencing of trauma and adversity by NHS ambulance personnel in England during the Covid-19 pandemic

It is well known that psychological trauma and adversity are inherent to the work of emergency ambulance personnel. While there is a large research base that examines the individual impacts and risks of such exposures, little is known as to how they are experienced by ambulance personnel in their social work groups or teams, nor what the effects are when the context of adversity is prolonged.

Through qualitative inquiry, this thesis aims to understand the social psychological dynamics operating within the depths of NHS ambulance service culture, specifically exploring how these features influence the social behaviours and relationships between ambulance practitioners and their collective experiencing of trauma and emotionality. In addition, this study explores social identity and self-categorisation as influential factors in mediating these relational, psycho-emotional, and behavioural responses.

Interviewing thirty ambulance personnel over the course of the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, this longitudinal research demonstrates how the social identity approach is highly relevant in its application to this emergency services setting. Qualitative insights show just how extensive and pervading these social psychological dynamics were in influencing the ambulance practitioners’ perceptions, interpretations, and emotionality in response to adverse and traumatic situations.

This study contributes new knowledge of how, in the context of the pandemic, group memberships shaped practitioners’ social and psychological worlds, especially the social psychological dynamics operating within ambulance service culture. Overall, I argue that these processes deeply influenced the interactions, relationships, and behaviours of participants, and in this way, impacted their psycho- emotional responses to collectively experienced adversity and trauma.