Michael Sliter Senior Consultant FurstPerson, Inc. (Formerly of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis)

Transcription

1 Michael Sliter Senior Consultant FurstPerson, Inc. (Formerly of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis)

2 Acknowledgments Cleveland Fire Department Firefighters Worldwide University of Cincinnati ERC (NIOSH) This research study was (partially) supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Pilot Research Project Training Program of the University of Cincinnati Education and Research Center Grant #T42/OH

3 Goals and Scien3fic Relevance 1. Determine recovery activities that firefighters utilize to recover from stressors. Address gaps in survey measurement development on recovery Focus on specific activities instead of general experiences 2. Investigate whether recovery activities ameliorate the negative relationship between stressors and well-being in fire fighters. Address gaps in research; will determine efficacy of clusters of activities for specific stressors

4 Relevance to NORA Social and Economic Consequences of Workplace Illness and Injury. Cost of stressors (organizational; personal) Prevention component identifying recovery Special Populations at Risk. Firefighters (priority area) Identify factors that predispose individuals toward illness (environmental and personal factors)

5 Key Points Firefighters are exposed to numerous, unique stressors Chronic (workload, sleep, tedium) and Traumatic Powerful negative impact (depression, burnout) Differential negative impact Resilience and coping (humor, positive reinterpretation) Recovery experiences and activities (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2007) Relaxation, Control, Mastery, and Detachment What recovery activities, and underlying experiences, are effective in helping firefighters recover from work stressors?

6 Study 1: Qualita3ve Study of Recovery Interviewed 20 firefighters Firefighters (14), Lieutenant (5), Captain (1) Age: (7.33), Tenure: (6.72), White (95%) Recovery research has rarely used qualitative measures to inform scale development (e.g., Sonnentag & Fritz, 2006) minute phone interviews ($50) Describe common stressors; how do you recover? Discuss traumatic stressors; how do you recover?

7 Coding Five raters coded common stressors, recovery activities Ex. Traumatic stressors humor Usually it's an off color comment joke; if someone had lost her leg you, you say man if she tripped on the other leg she wouldn't have a leg to stand. Or maybe that guy won't be playing the piano anymore after he lost his hand. Ex. Physical stress relaxation and fitness As far as recover, like I said I try and get proper sleep and keep myself physically fit. Dealing with the mental stress is basically with my peers, guys that I work with. I mean I can discuss certain aspects of the job with them and they ve had similar experiences too. So that helps.

8 Coding Ex. Boredom Recreation/Exercise There will be times you can sit around if you're sitting around and talking if it gets to the point where there is really nothing to say someone will usually get up work out or go read, bring a project in. We've got the small workout area too, treadmill, weights, elliptical, exercise bike.. Ex. Workload Detachment and control And as silly as this sounds, cutting grass. Its mindless work. All I have to do is keep my feet and fingers out of the blades and put the tire on the uncut part of the grass and there s no life making decisions to worry about so I do yard work I have 18 acres and I do a lot of yard work. It s the best stress relief for me that I ve ever found.. Consensus meeting to determine most common recovery activities

9 Clusters of recovery ac3vi3es Talking about work stress Asking about work stress Spending time with others (friends/family) Physical recreation (outdoors, working out) Other recreation (movie, park, hobbies) Unwinding (nap, music, finding a quiet place) Developing (building skills)

10 Study 2: Quan3ta3ve Study of Recovery n = 268; age: 32.8(6.5), tenure: 7.3(7.1), 92% Male; 53% White Firefighters recruited from multiple sources Previous study database Firefighters Worldwide (Facebook) Every damn firefighter site we could find Surveyed at two time points ($10, $14; 60% retention) Traumatic Stressors (Allen, 1995), Chronic Stressors-boredom, sleep, workload (Beaton et al., 1993; Spector & Jex, 1998) Recovery Experiences (Sonnetag & Fritz, 2007) Recovery Activities Work/Home(created) Depression (APA, 2014)

11 Main effects: Stressors Stressors Time Depression (Time 2) Traumatic Time 1.55** Workload Time 1.16** Boredom Time 1.46** Sleep Issues Time 1.40**

12 Recovery from trauma3c stressors Most effective: Recreation Least effective: Development Asking others

13 Recovery from chronic stressors: workload Most effective: Unwinding Talking Least effective: Physical recreation Exercise

14 Recovery from chronic stressors: boredom Most effective: Physical recreation Exercise Least effective: Unwinding Asking about stress

15 Recovery from chronic stressors: Sleep disturbances Most effective: Unwinding Recreation Least effective: Exercise Spending Time

16 Discussion Traumatic and chronic stressors both have a negative impact Impact of Results Different clusters of recovery activities may be effective in response to different types of stressors Detachment activities Traumatic Stressors Relaxation activities Sleep and Workload Activation activities Tedium First study to identify specific activities as effective for affecting specific stressors

17 Next Steps Future Directions: R2P Develop an online training program Train firefighters how to cope/which activities are effective Interactive program (gamification) Future funding potential Working with BGSU, Clemson researchers National Institutes for Health; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (PAR ) Federal Emergency Management Agency

18 Ques3ons? *Cleveland Firefighter holding a 9-day old puppy after rescuing her from a fire Source: Cleveland.com