Firefighters in the United States are at risk for developing a range of concerns given the physical and psychological risks of their job duties (Farnsworth & Sewell, 2011; Lourel, Abdellaoui, Chevaleyre, Paltrier, & Gana, 2008; McFarlane & Bryant, 2007; Wagner, McFee, & Martin, 2010). Additionally, the risk for suicide may be higher in this population than the general population (Savia, 2008). This phenomenological qualitative research study aimed to understand firefighters’ experiences following work-related crises, including how they were impacted across domains (e.g., emotional, cognitive, physical, relational), how they coped in the aftermath, and their use of social support. Therefore, 10 professional, active firefighters were interviewed in order to gain insights into their experiences. Additionally, an online survey was used as a sampling strategy, and to gain information on the types of events they experienced and those they find most distressing. The survey yielded a total of 132 completed responses with an additional 18 partial responses. The findings of this study included the identification of 11 cluster themes related to impact, coping strategies, and social support. Impact cluster themes included: different types of negative impact, different types of positive impact, circumstances of event, and cumulative impact of event. The themes related to coping strategies included: emotion-focused coping skills, problem-focused coping skills, and factors that are unhelpful to coping with an event. Lastly, social support themes included: types of support utilized, differences in support from firefighters and non-firefighters, barriers to using social support, and attitudes towards professional mental health services. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2016. / October 24, 2016. / coping strategies, firefighters, first responders, social support, trauma, work-related crises / Includes bibliographical references. / Frances Prevatt, Professor Directing Dissertation; Lenore McWey, University Representative; Alysia Roehrig, Committee Member; Shengli Dong, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_552132 |
| Contributors | Smith, Shannon Marie (authoraut), Prevatt, Frances A. (professor directing dissertation), McWey, Lenore M. (university representative), Roehrig, Alysia D., 1975- (committee member), Dong, Shengli (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Education (degree granting college), Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, doctoral thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (228 pages), computer, application/pdf |
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