Professional Quality Of Life Of Florida Emergency Dispatchers

Keywords

Burnout; Compassion satisfaction; Dispatcher; First responder; Secondary traumatic stress; Telecommunicator

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine a baseline level of the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL 5) in emergency dispatchers in the state of Florida, as well as to examine the how it is associated with psychological resilience, perceived coworker support, different types of debriefing, and perceived organizational support. Design/methodology/approach: This was done through a cross-sectional administration of surveys to emergency telecommunicators and dispatchers in the state of Florida. Findings: In total, 186 surveys were completed by active emergency dispatch personnel across the state of Florida. The study found that psychological resilience, education, and perceived organizational support were statistically related to professional quality of life in Florida Dispatchers. Research limitations/implications: There are limitations due to the nature of cross-sectional survey design and due to the sample size. There are also possible issues with the accuracy of self-reported survey answers. The lack of participation from all agencies also hinders generalizability. Practical implications: This study serves as a reference point for a very under studied emergency service population. There are also implications that psychological resilience development in dispatch personnel would assist in multiple aspects of their professional quality of life. Originality/value: This is the first study to use the ProQOL 5 on dispatch personnel in Florida. It also displays statistical relationships between factors which dispatch agencies could use to increase employee job satisfaction and potentially reduce turnover.

Publication Date

1-1-2017

Publication Title

International Journal of Emergency Services

Volume

6

Issue

1

Number of Pages

29-39

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1108/IJES-01-2017-0001

Socpus ID

85018783775 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85018783775

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