Filomena Jordão

Mariana Pinto

English

Repositório Aberto da Universidade do Porto

A multilevel perspective in the study of occupational stress:the case of the Permanent Intervention TeamsMariana Pinto, Filomena JordãoFaculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Porto UniversityABSTRACTINTRODUCTION METHODPARTICIPANTS (n=10)The data were collected through documentary analysis andsemistructured interviews to firefighters and were submitted to acontent analysis (Bardin, 2014), through Nvivo software 12.PROCEDUREDATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS TECHNIQUESRESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe participants resort more often to strategies focused on emotion, which meets the results found by Murta and Tróccoli(2007). In both teams, firefighters essentially mentioned their involvement in leisure activities. These results corroborate those of studies on work teams (Peiró et al., 2002; Rodrigues, 2008) who emphasize that living with colleagues outside the work environment provides greater knowledge of the other and, therefore, an increase in tolerance in stress situations experienced by these professionals.CONCLUSION REFERENCESThe results show that the firefighters of the two PITs, predominantly experience distress. We also found that strategies focused on controlling emotions stood out in both teams. Finally, we emphasize the negative impact at the personal, professional and family levels that the occupational stress perceived in the exercise of this function has on the participants and teams. In the field of Psychology, several models emphasize an individual view of stress that does not include the collective dimension. Some authors (e.g., Gomes & Puente-Palacios,2018) argue that research on this phenomenon should consider both levels. Permanent Intervention Teams (PITs) are teams composed of five professional firefighters who workin intervention situations (Couto & Carvalho, 2012), which make these professionals more susceptible to occupational stress (Murta & Tróccoli, 2007). Thus, the objective of thisinvestigation was to explore and describe the individual and collective occupational stress perceived by the firefighters of the PITs.This is an embedded multiple case study (Yin, 2018) in which the two PITs constitute the cases, the Humanitarian Associations of Volunteer Firefighters (HAVF) to which thePITs belong, represent the context and the firefighters are the units of analysis. The data were collected through documentary analysis and semistructured interviews tofirefighters and were submitted to a content analysis, through Nvivo software 12.The results show that the firefighters of the two PITs, predominantly experience distress. We also found that strategies focused on controlling emotions stood out in both teams.Finally, we emphasize the negative impact at the personal, professional and family level that the occupational stress perceived in the exercise of this function has on theparticipants and teams. These results can be the starting point for future studies that address the multilevel perspective of occupational stress in different work teams and theireffects on the health and well-being of the workers who compose them.Given the unique nature of their work, firefighters show high levels of occupational stress, as they perform demanding tasks and put their lives at risk to save and protect populations, exposing themselves to the physical, psychological and emotional dangers inherent in their activity dangerous or high pressure (Monteiro, 2008).With the increase in the phenomenon of teamwork, it was found that there are meanings that are built collectively as the members of a team interact, communicate, exchange information and affections, verbalize feelings, moods and experience situations of working together, evidencing the relevance of the joint work. Thus, it is also important to look at stress as a collective phenomenon (Gomes & Puente-Palacios, 2018), explicitly considering the two levels of stress - the individual and the collective.In the present study we used the holistic stress model (Nelson & Simmons, 2003; Nelson & Simmons, 2011; Simmons & Nelson, 2007) that emphasizes the individual approach, and research on collective occupational stress experienced by work teams, in order to deepen the experience of occupational stress perceived by firefighters from PITs. We intend specifically to answer the following research questions: RQ1. What are the sources of occupational stress (eustress and/or distress) perceived by firefighters in the PITs?; RQ2. What strategies (coping and/or savoring) are used by firefighters in PITs to manage the occupational stress?; and RQ3. What are the main consequences of occupational stress in these teams?Bardin, L. (2014). Análise de Conteúdo. Edições 70.CareerCast.com. (2018). The Most Stressful Jobs of 2018. Acedido em maio, 10, 2020, em https://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/2018-most-stressful-jobsCouto, A. & Carvalho, I. (2012). Guia de Procedimentos para a Constituição de Equipas de Intervenção Permanente. Cadernos Técnicos da PROCIV 21. Autoridade Nacional de Proteção Civil.Gomes, T., & Puente-Palacios, K. E. (2018). Estresse ocupacional, um fenômeno coletivo: evidências em equipes de trabalho. Revista Psicologia Organizações e Trabalho, 18(4), 485-493.Monteiro, J. (2008). Experiência de stress ocupacional em bombeiros portugueses: chorar por dentro (Dissertação de Mestrado). Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada.Morgado, P. A. (2017). Fontes de Stresse e Burnout em Bombeiros Profissionais (Dissertação de Mestrado). Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal.Murta, S. G. & Tróccoli, B. T. (2007). Stress ocupacional em bombeiros: efeitos de intervenção baseada em avaliação de necessidades. Estudos de Psicologia 24(1), 41-51. https://doi:10.1590/S0103-166X2007000100005Nelson, D. L. & Simmons, B. L. (2003). Health psychology and work stress: A more positive approach. In J. C. Quick & L. E. Tetrick (Eds.), Handbook of Occupational Health Psychology, (pp. 97-119). American Psychology Association.Nelson D. L., & Simmons B. L. (2011). Savoring eustress while coping with distress: The holistic model of stress. In J. C. Quick & L. E. Tetrick (Eds.), Handbook of occupational health psychology (pp. 55-74). Washington: American PsychologicalAssociation. https://doi:10.1007/s10926-011-9328-yPeiró, J. M., Zurriaga, R. & González-Romá, V. (2002). Análisis y diagnóstico de las situaciones y experiencias de estrés colectivo en las unidades de trabajo y en las organizaciones de servicios sociales. Revista del Instituto Nacional deSeguridad e Higiene en el Trabajo, 20, 11-20.Rodrigues, M. (2008). Stresse e Burnout na equipa multidisciplinar cirúrgica. (Dissertação de mestrado). Universidade Aberta.Sampieri, R. H., Collado, C. F., & Lucio, P. B. (2006). Metodologia de Pesquisa. (3rd Ed.). McGraw-Hill Interamericana do Brasil Ltda.Yin, R. K. (2018). Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods. (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.14rd Meeting of Young Researchers of Porto University05-07 May 2021Porto, PortugalThe results show that the firefighters of both teams feel that the experience of stress at work impacts the quality of the services provided by the team and, consequently, the performance in the relief missions. Indeed, some authors have shown that occupational stress has negative professional consequences for individuals (Nelson & Simmons, 2003) and for work teams in terms of the quality of services provided, namely in terms of performance at work, and low performance (Gomes & Puente-Palacios, 2018; Peiró et al. 2002), as seen in these teams. Request for cooperation in a HAVF and with the PIT Unstructured collective interview with a PIT; Contact with two other HAVF and PITs; Pilot interview Scheduling and interviews Selection criteria: Have worked at the PIT for at least 5 years; The PIT has been in operation for at least 5 years.Age• PIT 1 M= 33,8 years• PIT 2M= 40 yearsGender• 10 malesYears as an PIT firefighter• PIT 1 M=7,2 years• PIT 2M= 9 yearsEXPLORATORY CROSS-SECTIORALDESCRIPTIVE NON-EXPERIMENTALCoping strategies used by firefighters in PITsPIT1 PIT2SourcesReferences(%) SourcesReferences (%)Emotion-focusedcopingInvolvementin leisureactivitiesConvivial moments 3 41120 41%4 51619 46%Physical exercise 4 7 5 11Abstration 3 3 0 0Separation of work from family life 5 6 3 3Social support focused copingColleagues support 5 919 39%4 512 29%Family support 5 7 4 4Healthcare professionalssupport 3 3 3 3Problem-focused copingFormation 4 410 20%4 5 10 25%Debriefing4 6 5 5Consequences of occupational stress for PIT firefightersPIT1 PIT2Sources References(%)Sources References(%)Professionals Negative Demotivation3 31745 %1 11643%Quality ofservicesprovided 5 6 4 5Positive Satisfaction of work performed5 8 5 10Personal Psychological 5 10 1539 %5 712 32%Physical 4 5 4 5Relatives56 16%59 25%Sources of occupational stress PIT1 PIT2SourcesReferences (%) SourcesReferences(%)Sources ofdistressWork-family conflit 4 686 89%5 774 88%WorkconditionsWork schedule2 3230 019Lack of training5 7 5 7Lack ofpsychological support3 3 3 4Contractual conditions 5 10 5 8Physical requirements 4 8 5 6Psychologicalrequirements5 6 5 8EmergencysituationsSuicide 1 1181 216Cardio-respiratory stops1 2 0 0Multi-casualty accidents2 22 2Deaths 1 1 1 1Fires 1 1 3 3Injured minors4 8 5 6Disenfranchisements3 3 2 2Lack of job recognitionNational emergency and civil protection association (NECPA)5 8165 712General population3 4 0 0Volunteer firefighters4 4 4 5Relief unpredictability 2 3 2 2Time pressure 5 6 4 4Sources ofeustressRecognitionof jobTeammates 4 5911 11%5 61010 12%Leadership 4 4 3 4Autonomy in decision making2 2 0 0We found that the firefighters of the two PITs mainly experience distress. These results have also been evidenced in the literature that point out the firefighter profession as one of the most stressful (e.g., CareerCast.com, 2018). These results also corroborate studies with teams from social services that essentially highlight the negative sources of collective occupational stress (Peiróet al., 2002).Among the sources of distress mentioned by the participants of both teams, working conditions stood out. In this regard, the lack of training and contractual conditions were evidenced by all the firefighters of the two teams. As found in occupational stress studies at the individual (Morgado, 2017) and collective (Peiró et al., 2002) levels, in these teams, the PIT firefighters also highlighted remuneration, career progression and differences in relation to other professional firefighters (sappers) as sources of distress.(Sampieri, Collado, & Lúcio, 2006)QUALITATIVE APPROACHEmbedded multiple case study:Contexts: Two Humanitarian Associations of Volunteer Firefighters (HAVF)Cases:Two PITsUnits of analysis:Firefighters from two PITs

A multilevel perspective in the study of occupational stress: the case of the permanent intervention teams

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A multilevel perspective in the study of occupational stress: the case of the permanent intervention teams

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