Fir
Firefighters:
Locus
of Control, Perceived Social Support and CISD
By
Danielle Rondeau
Saint
Anselm College
please
email me with your questions or comments
Abstract
This
study explores the personality traits of both career and volunteer firefighters
throughout New Hampshire and Massachusetts,
and attempts to demonstrate the commonalities found within the personalities
of those fire personnel, using several factors such as perceived social
support, locus of control and personality. The surveys were administered
to fire service personnel from 5 possible fire departments throughout New
Hampshire and Massachusetts,
with 26 participants taking part in these surveys, who ranged in age from
18-65 years old with varying levels of education and certification within
the NH fire service system.
These
factors were measured with the Nowicki-Strickland Scale (Nowicki, &
Strickland, 1973) for locus of control, a 40 item scale that asks yes and
no questions pertaining to internal versus external locus of control. In
addendum, a 26 item survey that was created by the researcher was used.
It detailed basic demographic information as well as Critical Incident
Stress Debriefing (CISD) experiences, and whether or not CISD was effective
for the participants or if talking with family members, friends and co-workers
is more effective. The researcher found that there was a significant correlation
between the perceived efficacy of talking to a fellow firefighter and talking
to a counselor, as well as the relationship between finding Critical Incident
Stress Debriefing (CISD) to be a positive experience and perceiving CISD
as effective. There was also significance found between the efficacy of
talking to a fellow firefighter and the perceived efficacy of CISD, as
well as a positive correlation between CISD being perceived as effective
and whether or not the person feels that their department officials are
supportive of them. These correlations do not lend credibility to the research
hypothesis, but may indicate that this area of study bears further exploration,
as the sample size was rather small and in a limited geographical region.
Introduction
Firefighting
is a stressful occupation and therefore when studying firefighters, the
main areas of interest are occupational stress, perceived social support
and its effect on coping with stress, as well as whom firefighters go to
when attempting to process stress. In order to study these components of
firefighting, locus of control as well as effectiveness of coping mechanisms
need to be evaluated. In the current Fire Service system, Critical Incident
Stress Debriefing is of interest, because although it had been in use for
10 years or more, little is known about the efficacy of CISD as it pertains
to firefighting. Could it be possible that CISD success depends upon how
a person views their control over the events that happen to them? The first
thing to evaluate is the literature on job stress among firefighters.Firefighting
is a stressful occupation and therefore when studying firefighters, the
main areas of interest are occupational stress, perceived social support
and its effect on coping with stress, as well as whom firefighters go to
when attempting to process stress. In order to study these components of
firefighting, locus of control as well as effectiveness of coping mechanisms
need to be evaluated. In the current Fire Service system, Critical Incident
Stress Debriefing is of interest, because although it had been in use for
10 years or more, little is known about the efficacy of CISD as it pertains
to firefighting. Could it be possible that CISD success depends upon how
a person views their control over the events that happen to them?
Locus
of Control as it Pertains to Firefighters
Another
area of interest when studying firefighters is evaluation of locus of control,
resiliency and ability to cope in stressful situations (locus of control
refers to whether or not a person sees life situations as within their
control or out of their control and can be internal or external, while
resiliency refers to how well an individual can cope with emotions and
stress after a stressful situation occurs). One type of coping style presented
by people is avoidant coping, which entails deliberate avoidance of the
stressful event by attempting not to think about the event, or some similar
tactic (Harris, Baloglu, & Stacks, 2002). This factor is dependant
upon the amount of social support a person perceives to be available to
them. Social support is important to study because firefighters willingly
go into extremely stressful situations on a daily basis. They need to be
able to cope well with the emotions that they experience on the job in
a healthy manner, and their ability to cope with stress seems to be indicative
of how they view themselves and the support they believe that they have
access to through the other people around them. This is important because
locus of control is what determines how people view stressful events in
their lives.
Posttraumatic
Stress Disorder in Firefighters
Posttraumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD) is prevalent among the firefighting community. According
to the American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic Manual, (DSM-IV-TR)
PTSD occurs when a person has been exposed to a traumatic event that involved
harm or death to himself or others, and experienced a response of intense
fear, helplessness or terror, such as that caused when mortality becomes
salient due to the death of a co-worker, or a an incident involving the
death of a child. PTSD among firefighters is something that needs to be
evaluated further in order to allow specific departments the opportunity
to deal with stressful job issues effectively, in order to permit department
personnel to work through symptoms of stress that follow traumatic events.
It is indicated that individuals with feelings of insecurity, lack of personal
control and feelings of alienation from others are more likely to report
symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress as indicated on the Beck
Depression Inventory (BDI) and Impact of Event Scale ( Regher, Hill &
Glancy, 2000). Posttraumatic stress is best predicted by personal event-and-response
related aspects of trauma. The firefighter will respond in a manner consistent
with characteristics, locus of control and perception of their social support
network in accordance to how close they were in proximity to the trauma.
The firefighters’ proximity is determined by the severity of the trauma,
proximity to death, fear generated by the traumatic event and the stress
after the trauma, such as loss of employment or loss of a close friend,
co-worker or relative (Bryant, & Harvey, 1995).
The
literature on this topic also indicates that individual differences in
resilience and vulnerability are the main determinants of the duration
and intensity of trauma-related symptoms (Regher, Hill & Glancy, 2000).
PTSD
and Critical Incident Stress Debriefing
Posttraumatic
stress disorder among those in the fire service is usually counteracted
after a traumatic event by the implementation of Critical Incident Stress
Debriefing (CISD), which is a group counseling session among peers. Originally,
in the 1980’s CISD was either an individual or group meeting facilitated
by a trained individual, although now CISD is conducted mainly in a group
setting with only those whom have come into direct contact with the critical
incident (McNally, Bryant, Ehlers, 2003). The program has an educational
component, which is held at the fire station after a critical incident
has occurred that may potentially produce posttraumatic symptoms, (i.e.
the death of a co-worker, a run involving the death or harm of a young
child or situations that involve great personal risk or injury, or a personal
error). The intent is to start a discussion on topics that the participants
feel comfortable talking about. The program moves into more emotionally
intense topics and concludes with an educational component which encompasses
emotional and physiological reactions to the traumatic events that may
occur, and provides healthy ways to deal with them and move on and bring
closure to the group (Harris, Baloglu, & Stacks, 2002). CISD has gained
popularity in the past 10 years, especially following the September 11th
attacks, although there is not much empirical evidence to support the notion
that it significantly alters the cognitive effects of traumatic stress
on firefighters and other public service personnel who use it (Harris,
Baloglu, & Stack, 2002). Instead, there may be an indication that CISD
only works well when a person is experiencing posttraumatic symptoms, which
often occur some time after the critical incident has happened. This becomes
important, as CISD is often times implemented a short time after the critical
incident occurs. The other portion of CISD and its efficacy is the role
that social support plays in how well a person will deal with a stressful
and traumatic experience such as the ones that firefighters experience.
Social
Support- Friends, Family and Other Firefighters
Social
Support involves how firefighters are dealing with their stress. For example:
Are they merely going home and venting to their spouses, or talking about
what is bothering them to other firefighters at the station? If this is
the case, then could a stress management class be beneficial to firefighters
when their social support networks help them to cope well with the stressors
in their lives? The amount of stress both psychological and physiological,
that firefighters experience seems to be related to their efficiency at
problem solving. Those who are efficient problem solvers that face stressful
situations tend to report less symptoms of stress than those who cannot
problem solve efficiently. In a study conducted by Baker & Williams,
(2001) firefighters were administered self-report surveys that explored
the relationships between problem solving styles and emotional stress.
The results from this study indicate that those who were more effective
while problem solving had reported fewer stress symptoms. Whether or not
a person is an effective problem solver seems dependant upon their perception
of the social support network that is available to them. In fact, the perception
of social networks and network conflict at work has more effect on job
satisfaction and morale than they do on comparable off-work (home) conflict/satisfaction
ratings (Beaton, Murphy & Pike, 1997). Therefore when conducting a
study it is important to evaluate components of personality such as locus
of control, and perceived social support and reported efficacy of CISD
to reach a more visible conclusion. The literature seems to indicate that
personality traits and locus of control directly influence a person’s response
to stress. Locus of control refers to whether or not a person views the
events that happen to them as something that they can control, or something
that is outside of their control. Those firefighters who have an external
locus of control (events are outside of their control) may cope less effectively
with stress than those who have an internal locus of control (Fusilier,
Ganster, & Mayes, 1987).
Proposed
Investigation
The
assumption in the study to be conducted is that there are correlations
between internal versus external locus of control and ability to manage
stress well. There is also the prediction that while CISD is used more
often now than it was before 9/11, members of the fire service will report
that their main support comes from spouses, family and other members of
the fire service. This reliance on other means than CISD to filter stress
may be due to the typical CISD implementation as it stands now, which takes
place a short time after the critical incident occurs.
Methods
Participants
The participants
for this study were firefighters from six possible fire departments throughout
New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and were recruited on a volunteer basis
with department permission obtained through the fire chief. The firefighters
ranged in age from 18-65 years of age, and vary in rank, ethnicity, gender,
marital status and educational background. Some of the participants were
career (fulltime) firefighters, while others were call people (those who
are paid to go on calls, but do not belong to a department that has 24
hour coverage), and volunteers. The participants were firefighters,
firefighters and EMT/Paramedics, or fire officers, but had obtained firefighter
training. The firefighters were asked to sign a consent form and were debriefed
in writing at the end of the study (refer to appendix C). The proposal
for this study was submitted to the Saint Anselm College Institutional
Review Board (IRB), and was approved.
Materials
The participants
were administered several surveys to measure locus of control (please refer
to appendix A) and perceived efficacy of Critical Incident Stress Debriefing
, as well as perceived social support. The locus of control scale was Nowicki
& Strickland’s Locus of Control Scale ( Nowicki & Strickland, 1973),
a 40 item questionnaire that evaluates internal versus external locus of
control by evaluating personal belief systems about certain life experiences
(please refer to appendix B).
The Nowicki-Strickland
Locus of Control Survey is a pencil and paper survey answered by either
marking yes or no with a check mark beside the appropriate response. The
Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale has demonstrated high construct
validity when compared to Rotter’s Internal-External Locus of Control Scale,
(N=76, r = .61, p< .01; N = 46, r = .38, p < .01)(Nowicki & Strickland,
1973). The second questionnaire was an unpublished survey created by the
researcher. This survey was a 26 item questionnaire, which detailed demographic
information as well as information on whom the participant spoke to about
critical incidents, be it family member, fellow firefighter or healthcare
professional. These questions were written with a likert-type scale ranging
from 0-4, and data was imputed according to this scale.
Procedure
The surveys were
distributed to the fire service personnel during the month of October,
2003, and the data was collected, and processed, utilizing a cross sectional
research design. This method involved administering a survey one time to
the sample population and measuring the data as they appeared at the time
that the study was
conducted (Graziano &
Raulin, 1997). The data was correlationally evaluated to determine relationships
between the variables: locus of control, perceived efficacy of Critical
Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD), and perceived social support. The different
variables and relationships between them were analyzed for statistical
significance.
Results
Each of the relevant
items on the two questionnaires were correlated with each other and there
were three areas of significance. There was a significant correlation between
the perceived efficacy of talking to a counselor and the perceived efficacy
of talking to a fellow firefighter, r (-.388)= p<.05. This may be because
many of the firefighters had never talked to a counselor, or may have had
preconceived notions concerning what people it is permissible to talk about
fire calls with. Family and fellow firefighters are two groups of people
in a firefighters life where there is guaranteed support systems in place,
where talking to a counselor may seem foreign or unnecessary.
:There was a significant
correlation between finding Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD)
to be a positive experience and the perceived efficacy of Critical Incident
Stress Debriefing with r(.641) = p < .01.
The correlation between
whether Critical Incident Stress Debriefing worked for the participants
and whether or not they felt that their department officials were supportive
when critical incidents occur was positively significant, with r(.474)
= p < .05. The participants who belonged to departments where
the officers are seen as supportive felt that Critical Incident Stress
Debriefing was effective for them.
There was no significance
found between the locus of control scale, and whether the participant had
seen a counselor, physician, talked to a fellow officer or talked to a
family member, friend or did nothing at all. There was also no significance
found between locus of control and the perceived efficacy of seeing a counselor,
talking to a physician, talking to a fellow firefighter, talking to a family
member or friend, or doing nothing. There was also no correlation between
locus of control and efficacy of talking to a family member or friend,
efficacy of a counselor, a physician, fellow firefighter or doing nothing.
This lack of correlation may be due to small population size, (see Table
1), and insufficient questions on the unpublished questionnaire created
by the researcher.
Each
of the relevant items on the two questionnaires were correlated with each
other and there were three areas of significance. There was a significant
correlation between the perceived efficacy of talking to a counselor and
the perceived efficacy of talking to a fellow firefighter, r (-.388)= p<.05.
This may be because many of the firefighters had never talked to a counselor,
or may have had preconceived notions concerning what people it is permissible
to talk about fire calls with. Family and fellow firefighters are two groups
of people in a firefighters life where there is guaranteed support systems
in place, where talking to a counselor may seem foreign or unnecessary.
There was a significant correlation between finding Critical Incident Stress
Debriefing (CISD) to be a positive experience and the perceived efficacy
of Critical Incident Stress Debriefing with r(.641) = p < .01.
The
correlation between whether Critical Incident Stress Debriefing worked
for the participants and whether or not they felt that their department
officials were supportive when critical incidents occur was positively
significant, with r(.474) = p < .05. The participants who belonged
to departments where the officers are seen as supportive felt that Critical
Incident Stress Debriefing was effective for them.
There was no significance found between the locus of control scale, and
whether the participant had seen a counselor, physician, talked to a fellow
officer or talked to a family member, friend or did nothing at all. There
was also no significance found between locus of control and the perceived
efficacy of seeing a counselor, talking to a physician, talking to a fellow
firefighter, talking to a family member or friend, or doing nothing. There
was also no correlation between locus of control and efficacy of talking
to a family member or friend, efficacy of a counselor, a physician, fellow
firefighter or doing nothing. This lack of correlation may be due to small
population size, (see Table 1), and insufficient questions on the unpublished
questionnaire created by the researcher.
Discussion
Critical
Incident Stress Debriefing has been explored more recently to attempt to
ascertain how well it works, and if perhaps other methods of stress coping
could be more beneficial. According to Bryant and Harvey, 1996, the role
of trauma on the ability to cope with stressful situations that follow
is poorly understood, although some of the literature indicates that the
survival of a large trauma (e.g. The Holocaust) can potentially strengthen
the coping mechanisms that a person uses to deal more successfully with
subsequent stressors that occur. It is because of the prevalence
of Posttraumatic stress type symptoms which according to the American Psychological
Association’s Diagnostic Manual, (DSM-IV-TR, 2000) PTSD occurs when a person
has been exposed to a traumatic event that involved harm or death to himself
or others, and experienced a response of intense fear, helplessness or
terror, such as that caused when mortality becomes salient due to the death
of a co-worker, or a an incident involving the death of a child, that Critical
Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) was developed and adopted by many fire
departments in an attempt to inoculate their firefighters against the reactions
of PTSD (Harris, Baloglu & Stacks, 2002).
The results from the present study are not significant in the areas that
were hoped, these being locus of control and the possible connection to
perceived efficacy of both Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) and
perceived efficacy of talking to a family member or friend. Instead, from
the small population (N = 26) that was sampled no conclusions may be drawn
in this area. There were also only men represented in the sample, and all
of the participants were from fire departments in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
In order to be more fully evaluated, the sample size should be increased
and diversified to include women as well as members of the fire service
outside of New England. In addendum, the unpublished questionnaire created
by the researcher should be revised to include several questions that deal
with the proposed hypothesis directly, perhaps asking what the firefighter
feels is more beneficial: talking to a friend or family member, or experiencing
a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing session with fellow firefighters
after a critical incident occurs.
The locus of control test might need to be re-evaluated as well, and perhaps
another scale besides the Nowicki-Strickland (1966) would be a better choice
to indicate internal versus internal locus of control in firefighters.
With a larger population and a few added questions on the unpublished questionnaire,
and the use of a different locus of control scale, the results of a replicated
study might be more definite as to a possible connection between locus
of control and perceived efficacy of both CISD and talking to family members
or friends after a critical incident occurs.
The areas that were significant are of interest, however. There was a negative
correlation between the perceived efficacy of talking with a counselor
in correlation to the perceived efficacy of talking to a fellow firefighter
about an incident. This may be indicative of negative feelings concerning
talking to anyone outside of the fire service about incidents that occur
while on the job.
There
was also significance between perceived efficacy of Critical Incident Stress
Debriefing (CISD, and whether or not CISD was viewed positively. This may
be indicative of participants perceiving CISD as an effective way to deal
with stress brought on by critical incidents, and that even those who have
not experienced CISD first hand have heard positive feedback on the program
from those that they know who have experienced it.
Significance
was found in one more area as well. This correlation was between whether
the participant found department officials to be supportive of their firefighters
and whether or not Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) works for
those who experience it. It makes sense that these two items would be positively
correlated, because if department officials are supportive of their members,
the members will perceive the CISD program as effective.
References
Baker, Sarah R.; &
Williams, Karen.(2001). Short Communication: relation between
social
problem-solving appraisals, work stress, and psychological distress. The
Journal of Stress and Health
17(4), 219-229.
Beaton, Randal D.; Murphy,
Shirley A.; Pike, Kenneth C.; & Corneil, Wayne.(1997).
Social
Support and network conflict in firefighters and paramedics. Western
Journal of Nursing Research,19(3), 297-313.
Bryant, Richard A.; &
Harvey, Allison.(1996). Posttraumatic stress reaction in volunteer
firefighters.
Journal
of Traumatic Stress, 9(1), 51-62.
DSM-IV-TR, (2000) American
Psychiatric Association, Washington, DC
Fusilier, Marcelline,
R.;Ganster, Daniel C. & Mayes, Bronston T.(1987). Effects of social
support,
role stress, and locus of control on health. Journal of Management,
13,
527-528.
Gohm, Carol L.; Bauman,
Michael R.; & Sniezek, Janet A.;(2001). Personality in
extreme
situations: thinking (or not) under acute stress.
Journal of Research
in Personality, 35(3), 388-399.
Graziano, Anthony M.;
Raulin, Michael L. Research Methods: A Process of Inquiry.
(1997) Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, Needham Heights, MA.
Harris, Morag B.; Baloglu,
Mustafa; & Stacks, James R.(2002). Mental Health of
Trauma-Exposed
Firefighters and Critical Incident Stress Debriefing. Journal of Loss
and Trauma, 7, 223-238.
McCall, Jeffrey Phillip
(2002). A correlational study of firefighter personality traits and
emotional
exhaustion. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences
& Engineering, 63(1B) 539.
McNally, Richard J.;
Bryant, Richard A.; & Ehlers, Anke;(2003). Does early psychological
intervention
promote
recovery from Posttraumatic Stress? Psychological Science in The Public
Interest, 4(2), 44-79.
Murphy, Shirley A; Beaton,
Randal D.; Pike, Kenneth C.; Johnson, L.C. (1999).
Occupational
stressors, stress responses, and alcohol consumption among professional
firefighters: A prospective, longitudinal analysis.International
Journal of Stress Management, 6(3), 179-196
Nowicki, Stephen Jr.&
Strickland, Bonnie R. (1973). A Locus of Control Scale for
Children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 40(1),
148-154.
Ozer,
Emily J.; Best, Suzanne R.; Lipsy, Tami L.; Weiss, Daniel S.; (2003). Predictors
of
Posttraumatic
Stress Disorder and symptoms in adults.
Psychological Bulletin,
129(1), 52-73.
Regehr, Cheryl; Hill,
John & Glancy, Graham D.; (2000). Individual predictors:
traumatic
reactions on firefighters. Journal of Nervous & Mental Diseases,
188(6), 333-339.
Thank You For Reading
This Page