Associations of resilience and hope with mental and physical health among firefighters

Abstract

Objective Firefighters represent an understudied population with high rates of chronic exposure to stress and potentially traumatic events. Thus, there is a need to identify modifiable resilience factors to address posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms (PTSD) and chronic pain in firefighters to inform prevention and intervention efforts. Methods The current sample included 155 firefighters (93.5% male; Mage = 42.2, SD = 9.8) recruited online from career, volunteer, and combination (i.e., volunteer and career) departments in a large metropolitan area in the southern United States. Results Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to investigate the associations between/among resilience and hope on PTSD symptoms, chronic pain, well‐being, and posttraumatic growth (PTG). Resilience had a stronger, negative relationship with PTSD and chronic pain compared to hope, while hope had a stronger, positive relationship with PTG and well‐being compared to resilience. Hope and resilience combined predicted 10%–33% of the variance in the outcomes. Conclusion The current findings may provide evidence to promote interventions that increase resilience and hope in firefighters.

Connection Insights From Spirituality

“…and can sustain them as they navigate their unique journeys toward healing and recovery. Hope is an influential factor in perseverance and is closely linked with resilience (Cohen, 2017;Ozturk et al, 2022;Senger et al, 2023). Prominent models of hope such as Charles Snyder's Hope Theory and the Herth Hope Index concur that hope is multidimensional and involves at a minimum two factors: (a) a future focused sense of expectancy and (b) interconnection (Feldman et al, 2023).…”

Traumatic stress, active engagement and resilience in first responders and civilians in the outbreak of war

“…High resilience levels have been reported as a protective factor from psychopathology (Agaibi & Wilson, 2005 ; Hoge et al, 2007 ; Horn et al, 2016 ). In FRs, research has shown that resilience is associated with perceived wellness (O’Neil & Kruger, 2022 ) and is considered protective for stress-related pathologies (Green et al, 2010 ; Lee et al, 2016 ; McCanlies et al, 2014 ; Oh et al, 2022 ; Pietrzak et al, 2009 , 2010 ) that can explain up-to ∼30% of the variance with regard to mental health outcomes in this population (Senger et al, 2023 ; Streb et al, 2014 ). Furthermore, resilience has been shown to moderate the mediation effect between traumatic stress and PTSD symptoms via perceived stress and to buffer the impact of traumatic events on the development of PTSD (Lee et al, 2014 ).…”