Ana Guimarães

Filomena Jordão

English

Repositório Aberto da Universidade do Porto

Occupational stress associated with exposure to traumain professional firefightersAna Guimarães, Filomena JordãoFaculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, Porto UniversityABSTRACTINTRODUCTION METHODPARTICIPANTSThe data were collected through the application of logbooks and interviews using the Critical Incident Technique. The information collected was subject to a thematic content analysis through NVivo 12 software.PROCEDUREDATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS TECHNIQUESRESULTS AND DISCUSSIONWhen experiencing traumatic situations, firefighters mostly experience negative emotions. Beaton and Murphy (1995) found that firefighters experience emotional reactions such as fear, sadness, anxiety, or anger as a result of exposure to traumatic events in the performance of their duty. These experiences generate distress. These results are in line with those of Regehr, Leblanc, Jelley, Barathand Daciuk (2007) who state that firefighters who have been exposed to traumatic events are at greater risk of developing vulnerability to stress and distress throughout their career.These findings are in line with those of Tomaka, Magoc, Morales-Monks and Reyes (2017), Jacobsson, Backteman-Erlanson, Brulin and Hörnsten(2015) and Harris, Baloğlu and Stacks (2002) which identify as potentially traumatic accidents large-scale fires, explosions, drownings, suicides or attempted suicides, serious traffic accidents and occurrences with multiple victims, the death or injury of colleagues or acquaintances, and serious injury or death of children.The participants resort more often to strategies focused on emotion, which meets the results found by Murta and Tróccoli (2007). One possible explanation is that the occupational context of the firemen often does not allow for a choice (Van der Klink, Blonk, Schene & van Dijk, 2001). In other words, sometimes traumatic situations are not changeable and there is nothing to do in order to reverse them.CONCLUSION REFERENCESThe results show that exposure to trauma in firefighters is a subjective and diverseexperience with a more negative than positive dimension. In fact, negative emotions and thenegative consequences of traumatic events have a significantly more noticeable impact.Thus, when exposed to traumatic events, firefighters experience distress. To cope with thesesituations and the associated negative emotions, firefighters more often resort to emotion-focused coping strategies.Exposure to traumatic events is frequent in emergency services (Berger, Coutinho, Figueira, Marques-Portella, Luz, Neylen, Marmar, & Mendlowicz, 2012). Emergency careprofessionals like firefighters deal with death, the risk of death or threats to another person’s physical integrity on a daily basis (Berger et al., 2012). Experiencing traumaticsituations can have negative consequences and affect the well-being and health of this professionals, as well as the quality of the emergency serviced provided. This studyaims to explore occupational stress associated with exposure to trauma in professional firefighters. Data were collected through logbooks and interviews utilizing the CriticalIncident Technique. Data collected was submitted to a thematic content analysis using NVivo 12 software. Results show that exposure to trauma in firefighters is a subjectiveand diverse experience with an accentuated negative dimension. In fact, negative emotions and negative consequences resulting from traumatic events have an impact moresignificant. Thus, when exposed to traumatic events, firefighters experience mainly distress. To manage these situations and the associated negative emotions, they oftenresort to emotion-focused coping strategies. This study contributed to a greater awareness of the importance of psychological intervention in these professionals, through thedevelopment of strategies and actions in secondary prevention to improve these professional’s quality of life.Since the firefighter’s occupational environment is highly stressful, the interestin studying their mental health has been increasing (Carey, Al-Zaiti, Dean,Sessanna, & Finnell, 2011). In fact, emergency professionals such as firefightersas constantly exposed to traumatic incidents (Jonsson, Segesten, & Mattsson,2003) with road crashes, children’s injuries, suicides, and cardiac arrested beingthe most noteworthy (Marcelino, Figueiras, & Claudino, 2012). A portuguese studyrevealed that 98% of firefighters experienced at least one major adverse event inthe year prior to the inquiry, 50% in the prior month, and 74% in the prior week(Carvalho & Maia, 2009).According to the cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion (Lazarus,1991), the cognitive evaluation that an individual makes of a traumatic eventtriggers an initial set of emotions that make him convoke certain coping strategieswhich mediate the newly generated emotions (Folkman & Lazarus, 1988a,1988b). As such, the way an individual handles a particular situation is animportant predictor of psychological distress (Brown, Mulhern, & Joseph, 2002).With the aim to explore occupational stress associated with exposure to traumain professional firefighters, we intend specifically to answer the following researchquestions: RQ1. What situations do firefighters experience as traumatic? RQ2.What is the emotional experience associated with traumatic events? RQ3. Whatcoping strategies do firefighters use to manage traumatic situations? RQ4. Whatare the consequences of a traumatic situation’s exposure in the professionalpractice of a firefighter?Beaton, R., & Murphy, S. (1995). Working with people in crisis: Research implications. In C. R. Figley (Eds.), Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized (pp. 51-81). Philadelphia, PA, US: Brunner/MazelBerger, W., Coutinho, E. S., Figueira, I., Marques-Portella, C., Luz, M. P., Neylan, T. C., Marmar, C. R., & Mendlowicz, M. V. (2012). Rescuers at risk: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis of the worldwide current prevalence and correlates of PTSD in rescue workers. SocialPsychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 47(6), 1001-1011. doi: 10.1007/s00127-011-0408-2Brown, J., Mulhem, G., & Joseph, S. (2002). Incident related stressors, locus of control, coping, and psychological distress among firefighters in Northern Ireland. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 15(2), 161-168. doi: 10.1023/A:1014816309959Capitaneo, D., Ribeiro, K., & Silva, J. C. (2012). O papel idealizado do bombeiro: E o ser humano por trás da farda? Vittalle, 24(1), 53-68. doi: 10.14295/vittalle.v24i1.5107Carey, M. G., Al-Zaiti, S. S., Dean, G. E., Sessanna, L., & Finnell, D. S. (2011). Sleep problems, depression, substance use, social bonding, and quality of life in professional firefighters. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 53(8), 928-933. doi:10.1097/JOM.0b013e318225898fCarvalho, C., & Maia, Â. (2009). Perturbação Pós-Stress Traumático e indicadores de (in)adapatação em Bombeiros Portugueses. In A. Maia, S. Silva, & T. Pires (Orgs), Desafios da saúde e comportamento: actores, contextos e problemáticas. Actas do 1º Congresso de Saúde eComportamento dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (pp. 277-290). Braga: CIPSI Edições.Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. (1988a). Coping as a mediator of emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(3), 466–475.Harris, M., Baloğlu, M., & Stacks, J. (2002). Mental health of trauma-exposed firefighters and critical incident stress debriefing. Journal of Loss & Trauma, 7(3), 223–238. doi: 10.1080/10811440290057639Jacobsson, A., Backteman-Erlanson, S., Brulin, C., & Hörnsten, Å. (2015). Experiences of critical incidents among female and male firefighters. International Emergency Nursing, 23(2), 100–104. doi: 10.1016/j.ienj.2014.06.002Jonsson, A., Segesten, K., & Mattsson, B. (2003). Post-traumatic stress among Swedish ambulance personnel. Emergency Medicine Journal, 20(1), 79-84. doi: 10.1136/emj.20.1.79Lazarus, R. (1991). Progress on a cognitive-motivational relational theory of emotion. American Psychologist, 46(8), 819-834. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.46.8.819Marcelino, D., Figueiras, M. J., & Claudino, A. (2012). Impacto da exposição a incidentes críticos na saúde e bem-estar psicológicos dos tripulantes de ambulância. Psicologia, Saúde & Doenças, 13(1), 110-116.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. doi: 10.1590/S0103-166X2007000100005Regehr, C., Goldberg, G., & Hughes, J. (2002). Exposure to human tragedy, empathy, and trauma in ambulance paramedics. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 72(4), 505- 513. doi: 10.1037/0002-9432.72.4.505Tomaka, J., Magoc, D., Morales-Monks, S.M., & Reyes, A.C. (2017). Posttraumatic stress symptoms and alcohol-related outcomes among municipal firefighters. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 30(4), 416-424. doi: 10.1002/jts.22203Van der Klink, J., Blonk, R., Schene, A., & van Dijk, J. (2001). The benefits of interventions for work-related stress. American Journal of Health Promotion, 91(2), 270-276. doi: 10.2105/ajph.91.2.27013rd Meeting of  Young Researchers of  Porto University12-13-14 February 2020Porto, Portugal2345Situations experienced as traumatic by firefightersSourcesAccidents with children 5Traffic accidents 5Knowing the victim 4Death of a co-worker 1Suicides 4To fear for one’s own life 6Other occurrences 4Emotions experienced from traumatic events by firefightersSources References (%) Total (%)PositiveemotionsRelief 3 5 (5,27%)14 (14,75%)Love 1 1 (1,05%)Happiness 2 3 (3,16%)Pride 4 5 (5,27%)Negative emotionsAnxiety 8 17 (17,89%)67 (70,52%)Jealousy 0 0 (0%)Guilt 4 5 (5,27%)Envy 0 0 (0%)Fear 9 20 (21,05%)Disgust 0 0 (0%)Anger 8 8 (8,42%)Sadness 11 17 (17,89%)Shame 0 0 (0%)MixedemotionsCompassion 5 9 (9,47%)14 (14,73%)Hope 3 4 (4,21%)Gratitude 1 1 (1,05%)Coping strategies used by firefighters do deal with traumatic situationsSources References (%) Total (%)Emotion-focusedcopingAcceptance 6 8 (8,42%)58(61,05%)Moving away from the problem9 22 (23,16%)Distraction 5 10 (10,53%)Faith and Religion 2 4 (4,21%)Focus on positive aspects5 5 (5,26%)Play down the importance of the problem5 9 (9,47%)Problem-focusedcoping7 18 (18,95%)18(18,95%)Social supportfocused coping7 16 (16,84%)16(16,84%)Other coping strategies 2 3 (3,16%)3(3,16%)The negative consequences of experiencing traumatic situations were more frequently referred to by firefighters than the positive consequences. A qualitative study by Capitaneo, Ribeiro e Silva (2012) shows that exposure to risk factors is reflected in negative consequences in the different areas of firefighters' lives.Consequences of experience traumatic events by firefightersSources References (%)     Total (%)PositiveconsequencesDeveloping a self-defense system4 11 (11,22%)Drawing lessons for the profession 6 11 (11,22%)30(30,61%)Drawing lessons for life 4 8 (8,17%)Negative consequences Changes in sleep and dreams 4 7 (7,14%)Emotional wear 7 19 (19,39%) 68(69,39%)Negative memories 8 26 (26,53%)Feeling of powerlessness and frustration10 16 (16,33%)Request for cooperation with several Fire DepartmentsLogbooks’ administrationContact with participants and information on the subject of the studyPilot interviews with spoken reflection in order to test the experimentScheduling and interviews 1Selection criteria:Being a Portuguese professional firefighter;Having experienced one or more traumaticevents throughout its career21n=14EXPLORATORY CROSS-SECTIONALDESCRIPTIVENON-EXPERIMENTALQUALITATIVE APPROACHBetween 31 and 56 yearsold(M= 43,43; SD = 6,24)Age13 male and1 femaleGender71% ismanagerPosition

Occupational stress associated with exposure to trauma in professional firefighters

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Occupational stress associated with exposure to trauma in professional firefighters

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