Occupational Stress and Quality of Life among Rescue Workers: Moderating Role of Social Support

Abstract

Background: Rescue workers, including firefighters, paramedics, and emergency responders, often face high levels of stress due to the nature of their work. This stress can be attributed to exposure to traumatic events, long working hours, and the pressure to make critical decisions in emergencies. Social support plays a crucial role in mitigating the effects of occupational stress and hence helps in maintaining a good quality of life. Objective: The present study aims to investigate the relationship between occupational stress, social support, and quality of life among rescue workers and to determine the moderating role of social support in the relationship between occupational stress and quality of life among rescue workers. Methods: A purposive sample of 170 young adults with an age range of 22-30 years (M = 31.7, SD = 5.05) were taken from different Rescue Stations in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Occupational Stress Inventory, Pro-Quality of Life Scale, and Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale were used to assess the sample. Pearson product-moment correlation and moderation through multiple hierarchical regression analyses were run to test the hypotheses. Results: Results showed a positive relationship between occupational stress, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress among rescue workers. Further, it is found that compassion satisfaction is positive, and burnout and secondary traumatic stress domains of quality of life are negatively related to social support. Moreover, occupational stress negatively predicted the burnout and secondary traumatic stress domains of quality of life indicating higher occupational stress linked with higher burnout and secondary traumatic stress. The results also showed a significant positive interaction effect of occupational stress and support from significant others in predicting secondary traumatic stress among rescue workers. Conclusion: The study will contribute to the field of emergency services in depth. The findings will help the rescue administration to improve the quality of life of rescue workers.

Keywords

• occupational stress
• quality of life
• social support
• rescue workers
• burnout
• secondary traumatic stress
• compassion satisfaction.