Bøker av Shannon Marie Smith

Firefighters in the United States are at risk for developing a range of concerns given thephysical 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 thegeneral population (Savia, 2008). This phenomenological qualitative research study aimed to related crises, including how they wereimpacted across domains (e.g., emotional, cognitive, physical, relational), how they coped in theaftermath, and their use of social support. Therefore, 10 professional, active firefighters wereinterviewed in order to gain insights into their experiences. Additionally, an online survey wasused as a sampling strategy, and to gain information on the types of events they experienced andthose they find most distressing. The survey yielded a total of 132 completed responses with anadditional 18 partial responses. The findings of this study included the identification of 11cluster themes related to impact, coping strategies, and social support. Impact cluster themesincluded: different types of negative impact, different types of positive impact, circumstances ofevent, 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 tocoping 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, andattitudes towards professional mental health services.