A Formative Examination of the Health and Safety of Female Firefighters

对女消防员健康和安全的形成性检查

• 批准号: 8542890
• 负责人: Sara Anne Jahnke
• 金额: $ 16.02万
• 依托单位: NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH INSTITUTES, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-15 至 2015-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8542890
• 关键词: Accounting; Address; Affect; Agreement; Area; Attention; Behavioral Mechanisms; Censuses; Characteristics; Communities; Community Services; Data; Department of Defense; Development; Disasters; Emergency Situation; Emergency medical service; Emotional Stress; Ensure; Environment; Environmental Risk Factor; Epidemiologic Studies; Epidemiology; Equipment; Female; Fire - disasters; Focus Groups; Frustration; Future; Gender; Government; Growth; Guidelines; Health; Health Status; Health Surveys; Human Resources; Individual; Injury; International; Interview; Knowledge; Leadership; Left; Marines; Medicine; Methods; Military Personnel; Minority Groups; Occupational; Occupational Exposure; Occupational Groups; Occupations; Phase; Play; Police; Population; Preventive Intervention; Procedures; Public Health; Readiness; Recording of previous events; Recruitment Activity; Reproductive Health; Research; Research Design; Research Methodology; Retirement; Risk Factors; Safety; Sampling; Series; Services; Social Impacts; Statistical Models; Structure; Surveys; Training; Underrepresented Minority; United States; Woman; Women' s Health; Work; Workplace; arm; base; career; combat; emergency service responder; experience; health belief; informant; innovation; male; multidisciplinary; occupational health/safety; programs; response; therapy design

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Firefighters/EMS personnel are vital for public health safety, representing over two million individuals nationally. Because firefighters are required to respond to almost every domestic emergency, there is wide agreement that their health and readiness is of particular importance. Furthermore, a broad range of occupational exposures exist that negatively impact the health of firefighters. While the field of firefighter health has enjoyed growth over the past decade, the health of female firefighters remains largely unexamined. Similar occupational groups, such as the military, have developed focused programs to understand the unique work-related challenges to women's health; however, research in the fire service has remained relatively silent on the topic. This dearth of informatio likely contributes to the remarkably low rates of females recruited and retained by the fire service. While challenges such as harassment in the workplace have been identified as concerns for female firefighters, health concerns beyond emotional stress have received limited attention. Anecdotal evidence suggests that issues such as reproductive health, ill-fitting gear, and on-the-job injuries attributable to standard operating procedures and guidelines that do not accommodate differences in female characteristics are barriers to women serving as firefighters. The military, a similar population with regard to work task, environment, and a tradition of being primarily male, has been successful in making female health a priority through the development of a focused program of gender specific research. Despite significant cultural barriers, the armed forces have been successful in recruitment and retention of female personnel at a rate that far exceeds the US fire service. In this proposed project, we will use a multi-methods research design to examine health and safety issues among female firefighters. In addition, this study will identify factors which serve as barriers to recruitment and retention of women in the fire service. Unique strengths of this R21 developmental application include strong support from the largest national fire service organization focusing on women and an investigative team with a documented history of successful research on the health of firefighters. Research for this formative research will be conducted in three phases including: 1) focus groups with a national sample of female firefighters, and key informant interviews with male and female fire service opinion leaders; 2) key informant interviews with female firefighters who have chosen early retirement to determine barriers to retention among this population and 3) an epidemiological survey of a sample of female firefighters to determine current health status and health concerns across a number of domains. This innovative study is a critical step in addressing gender inequity of the US Fire Service and identifying areas of intervention and prevention for this understudied occupational group.

消防员/EMS人员对公共卫生安全至关重要，代表全国200多万人。由于消防员需要对几乎所有的国内紧急情况做出反应，因此人们普遍认为他们的健康和准备状态特别重要。此外，广泛的职业暴露存在对消防员的健康产生负面影响。虽然消防员健康领域在过去十年中有所增长，但女性消防员的健康状况在很大程度上仍未得到审查。类似的职业团体，如军队，已经制定了有针对性的方案，以了解妇女健康面临的与工作有关的独特挑战;然而，消防部门的研究对这一主题保持相对沉默。这种信息的缺乏可能导致消防部门招募和保留女性的比例非常低。虽然工作场所的骚扰等挑战已被确定为女性消防员的关切问题，但情绪压力以外的健康问题受到的关注有限。传闻证据表明，诸如生殖健康、不合适的装备以及由于标准作业程序和准则不适应女性特征差异而造成的在职伤害等问题是妇女担任消防员的障碍。军队在工作任务、环境和以男性为主的传统方面与军队类似，通过制定针对性别的重点研究方案，成功地将女性健康列为优先事项。尽管存在重大的文化障碍，但武装部队在招募和留住女性人员方面取得了成功，其速度远远超过美国消防部门。在这个拟议的项目中，我们将使用多种方法的研究设计，以检查女性消防员的健康和安全问题。此外，这项研究还将查明阻碍消防部门征聘和留住妇女的因素。这种R21开发应用程序的独特优势包括来自最大的国家消防服务组织的大力支持，该组织专注于妇女和一个调查团队，该团队具有成功研究消防员健康的记录历史。本形成性研究将分三个阶段进行，包括：1）全国女性消防员样本的焦点小组，以及与男性和女性消防服务意见领袖的关键信息提供者访谈; 2）与选择提前退休的女消防员进行关键线人访谈，以确定这一人群中留住消防员的障碍; 3）对女消防员进行抽样流行病学调查，以确定目前的健康状况和若干领域的健康问题。这项创新的研究是解决美国消防部门性别不平等问题的关键一步，并为这一研究不足的职业群体确定干预和预防领域。

项目成果

Maternal and Child Health Among Female Firefighters in the U.S.

• DOI: 10.1007/s10995-018-2468-3
• 发表时间: 2018-06
• 期刊: Maternal and child health journal
• 影响因子: 2.3
• 作者: Jahnke SA;Poston WSC;Jitnarin N;Haddock CK
• 通讯作者: Haddock CK

Current Female Firefighters' Perceptions, Attitudes, and Experiences with Injury.

当前女消防员对受伤的看法、态度和经历。

• 发表时间: 2017
• 期刊: International fire service journal of leadership and management
• 作者: Hollerbach,BrittanyS;Heinrich,KatieM;Poston,WalkerSC;Haddock,CKeith;Kehler,AinslieK;Jahnke,SaraA
• 通讯作者: Jahnke,SaraA

Alcohol Use and Problem Drinking among Women Firefighters.

• DOI: 10.1016/j.whi.2017.07.003
• 发表时间: 2017-11
• 期刊: Women's health issues : official publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health
• 作者: Haddock CK;Poston WSC;Jahnke SA;Jitnarin N
• 通讯作者: Jitnarin N

Reproductive Health Concerns Among Female Firefighters.

女消防员的生殖健康问题。

• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: International fire service journal of leadership and management
• 作者: Kehler,Ainslie;Jahnke,SaraA;Haddock,ChristopherK;CarlosPoston,WalkerS;Jitnarin,Nattinee;Heinrich,KatieM
• 通讯作者: Heinrich,KatieM