The relationship between workplace stressors, protective factors, and health behaviours among firefighters

Firefighters' occupational demands put them at higher risk for stress injuries and heart conditions. Current literature is scant and lacks consideration of workplace stressors/protective factors and their relation to health behaviours. Firefighters completed a self-report survey exploring workplace stressors, protective factors, and health behaviours linked to heart health. Descriptive statistics described and summarized responses. Correlation analyses explored item-level exploratory associations. The highest-rated stressors were "disruption of sleep while on call" and "seeing fellow firefighters struggle with illness, injury, addictions, or burnout", and protective factors were "feeling enjoyment and fulfillment from firefighting" and "feeling you have supportive crew relationships". Various workplace stressors were negatively associated with eating a healthy diet, off-duty sleep, and physical activity (rho = -0.24 to -0.49), whereas higher BMI, smoking, and drug use were positively associated (rho = 0.24–0.59). Conversely, "feeling enjoyment and fulfillment from firefighting" and "personal coping strategies" (physical activity and social connections) were positively associated with eating a healthy diet (rho = 0.29 and 0.44) and negatively associated with higher BMI, smoking, and drug use (rho = -0.27 to -0.36). Although preliminary, the results suggest future treatment targets for investigation include mitigating workplace psychosocial stressors (e.g., stigma, leadership/management issues), reducing negative coping, and building positive coping into daily routines (e.g., physical activity, social connection, positive crew relationships). Future research targets are discussed.