Workplace belongingness, distress, and resilience in emergency service workers.

OBJECTIVE

Ambulance personnel provide emergency medical services to the community, often attending to highly challenging and traumatic scenes in complex and chaotic circumstances. Currently, the assessment of predictors of psychological well-being remains limited. The current study investigated whether workplace belongingness was significant in predicting psychological distress as well as the presence of resilience in ambulance personnel while controlling for more routinely examined factors.

METHOD

Australian ambulance officers (N = 740) completed a survey battery including the Kessler 10, Brief Resilience Scale, and Psychological Sense of Organizational Membership scale.

RESULTS

Controlling for more commonly examined factors such as severity of trauma exposure and length of service, hierarchical multiple regression analyses demonstrated that workplace belongingness was significantly associated with reduced distress levels and enhanced resilience levels.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest that strategies to enhance a sense of workplace belongingness in emergency service organizations could promote the well-being of emergency workers despite routine exposure to potentially traumatic events. (PsycINFO Database Record