Background and Objectives Much of the research surrounding firefighter health has concerned the hazards intuitively associated with the occupation, such as physical, thermal, and chemical risks. However, an additional aspect of their work environment, psychosocial stressors, has begun to attract a growing level of attention. Work‐related psychosocial stress may best be described as mental and emotional strain caused by a combination of workplace events and characteristics, and the objective of our review was to identify the health outcomes associated with these stressors in firefighters. Methods A systematic review was performed of studies reporting on the psychosocial stressors and the associated health outcomes experienced by firefighters. Data sources included the MEDLINE, PsychInfo, and CINAHL databases. Results Twenty‐nine studies met the inclusion criteria. Upon analysis, we found that firefighters experienced a range of psychosocial stressors (including interpersonal conflict and concerns over organizational fairness) and observed that these stressors were associated with a number of health‐related outcomes that could be arranged into six areas: depression‐suicidality, non‐depressive mental health problems, burnout, alcohol use disorders, sleep quality, and physiological parameters and somatic disorders. Conclusion Our findings strongly suggest that work‐related psychosocial stressors can affect the health and well‐being of those in the fire service, and highlight that interventions meant to address these psychosocial risk factors should focus upon promoting self‐esteem, enhancing self‐efficacy, and strengthening social support.
Reliable and valid methods are imperative to assess any organization’s diversity and inclusion practices. Therefore, the Diversio Diversity and Inclusion Survey (DDIS), an instrument built on a framework of five core themes (inclusive culture, fair management, access to networks, flexible working conditions, and safe working environment), and designed to measure inclusion metrics for organizations, was tested to examine its psychometric properties. The DDIS was developed through a collaboration of industry experts, including those with the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) and the LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce. Initial testing and focus groups with over 60 participants belonging to equity-deserving groups ensured the instrument had good content validity. After the initial testing, pilot testing involving a diverse sample of working adults from 25 companies in Canada, the U.S., and the United Kingdom was completed. Psychometric properties of the 5-item DDIS scale were examined based on a cross-sectional survey of 8,800 working adults from various industries worldwide. The internal consistency reliability of the scale was analyzed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient1. The Cronbach alpha was 0.840 with all item-total correlations greater than 0.5. Therefore, the DDIS, which has good content validity and good internal consistency, should prove helpful in conducting assessments of diversity and inclusion culture and practices at any organization. In addition, organizations can survey their employees to gather relevant information to drive policy and organizational change.
Objective: We wanted to determine whether the biological embedding of perceived psychosocial stress could be observed within a sample of Canadian firefighters. Methods: We collected sociodemographic and general health-related information from 58 firefighters. In addition, measures of work-related and general life psychosocial stress, perceived social support, and physiological parameters thought to reflect the embedding of stress were gathered and analyzed using analysis of variance and linear regression models. Results: Despite observing a positive relationship between psychosocial stress and allostatic load, the association was not significant; however, age did significantly predict allostatic load (B = 0.09, P = 0.04). Notably, our participants reported abundant social support that was inversely associated with perceived stress. Conclusions: Although perceived stress did not significantly affect allostatic load in our sample, high levels of social support may have provided an important countervailing force.
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