Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Department of Biology, Western Oregon University, Monmouth, Oregon, USA.
Am J Ind Med. 2021 Feb;64(2):137-148. doi: 10.1002/ajim.23194. Epub 2020 Oct 22.
Firefighters endure large occupational burdens and generally operate under conditions of chronic sleep deficiency and circadian disruption due to long shifts, plus interrupted sleep due to emergency calls during the night. A typical shift for firefighters is 24-h on/48-h off, and firefighters are expected to use time-off to recover from any sleep debt, while balancing social, family, and home responsibilities. This qualitative study sets out to assess family dynamics and how firefighters prioritize sleep and recovery at home based on relationship or family status, as well as a fire department's current shift schedule.
Focus groups were conducted via convenience sampling in Portland, OR, with full-time firefighters, battalion chiefs, and their spouses. Grounded theory, using NVivo 12 Plus, was used to code transcripts to reveal reoccurring concepts and themes.
Major themes centered around the increase of nonemergent calls contributing to compassion fatigue. Spouses can help improve the sleep of firefighters by creating opportunities for recuperative sleep at home. However, spouses also conveyed underlying tones of "resentment" relating to their firefighter being unavailable for emotional and instrumental support. While married firefighters discussed choosing family and home obligations over reducing sleep debt to maintain relationships, single and divorced firefighters spoke of fewer conflicts impeding their ability to prioritize sleep at home.
These results improve our understanding of how firefighters prioritize sleep at home based on family dynamics and can inform future decision-making for fire departments in addressing concerns related to work-family conflict, sleep loss, and compassion fatigue among their members.
消防员承受着巨大的职业负担，由于长时间轮班和夜间紧急呼叫打断睡眠，通常处于慢性睡眠不足和昼夜节律紊乱的状态。消防员的典型轮班时间是 24 小时上班/48 小时休息，消防员需要利用休息时间来弥补任何睡眠债务，同时平衡社交、家庭和家庭责任。这项定性研究旨在评估家庭动态，以及消防员如何根据关系或家庭状况以及消防部门当前的轮班时间表在家中优先考虑睡眠和恢复。
通过在俄勒冈州波特兰的便利抽样，对全职消防员、营长及其配偶进行了焦点小组讨论。使用 NVivo 12 Plus 的扎根理论对转录本进行编码，以揭示反复出现的概念和主题。
主要主题集中在非紧急呼叫的增加导致同情心疲劳。配偶可以通过在家中创造恢复性睡眠的机会来帮助改善消防员的睡眠。然而，配偶也表达了对消防员无法提供情感和工具支持的潜在不满情绪。已婚消防员讨论了选择家庭和家庭责任而不是减少睡眠债务以维持关系，而单身和离婚的消防员则表示，较少的冲突阻碍了他们在家中优先考虑睡眠的能力。
这些结果提高了我们对消防员如何根据家庭动态在家中优先考虑睡眠的理解，并可以为消防部门在解决与工作家庭冲突、睡眠不足和同情心疲劳相关的问题方面做出未来决策提供信息。
