Canadian Career Firefighters' Mental Health Impacts and Priorities.
Publication Date
2021-12-01Journal Title
Int J Environ Res Public Health
ISSN
1661-7827
Publisher
MDPI AG
Volume
18
Issue
23
Language
en
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
MacDermid, J. C., Lomotan, M., & Hu, M. A. (2021). Canadian Career Firefighters' Mental Health Impacts and Priorities.. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 18 (23) https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312666
Abstract
Firefighters' perceptions of mental health can inform management. This qualitative study explored Canadian career firefighters' experiences, needs, and research priorities with respect to mental health. Thirty-nine career firefighters (33 men, 6 women) of different ranks and geographic locales were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and qualitatively analyzed using thematic analysis within an interpretive description approach. Firefighters reported that critical incidents and chronic job stressors contributed to mental health symptoms that led to burnout, compassion fatigue, and mental and physical injury. They were concerned with family impacts, like lack of full openness, reduced financial stability, and risk of divorce; and work impacts, like interpersonal conflict, lack of support to fellow firefighters, task avoidance, and absenteeism. A broad array of barriers and facilitators were found in firefighter work, culture, programs, social supports, health care, and societal factors. Variability in access to help, the changing fire service, and the complexity of knowing what to do to achieve mental health were evident across themes. Firefighters identified the need for research in four areas: awareness and monitoring, understanding etiology of mental health, better prevention and treatment, and access to care. Across domains of inquiry, context, "two sides to the coin", and uncertainty were overarching themes.
Keywords
firefighters, mental health, occupational stress injury
Sponsorship
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (HPW-146016, 162539)
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (890-2016-3013)
Dr. James Roth Chair in Musculoskeletal Measurement and Knowledge Translation (N/A, N/A)
Canada Research Chairs (950-233077)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312666
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/331707
Rights
Licence:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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