Ambulance Staff: Workplace Climate and Wellbeing
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Ambulance Services Staff: Workplace Climate and Workplace Wellbeing
IRAS ID
288931
Contact name
John Gammon
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Swansea University
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
There has been increased attention on job-related stress and burnout experienced by clinicians and frontline hospital staff working with vulnerable and at-risk populations; including effects on personal mental health, therapeutic decision-making, and job effectiveness (Fried and Fisher, 2016). Little is known, however, about the job-related stressors and symptoms of burnout experienced by frontline paramedic staff working with similar populations (Baier, Roth, Felgner, and Henschke, 2018).
The proposed multiphased research study will extend over a period of five years and will be carried out with staff working in the ambulance service throughout Wales and in Victoria State, Australia. At present, ambulance services staff are exposed to possible cases of people who are particularly ill with COVID-19 before other medical professionals and are increasingly exposed to levels of abuse from patient family members and others in society. In addition, this group of workers may have concerns about taking the virus home to their families. The study addresses the key indicators associated with workplace climate and wellbeing in this sector of the workforce through online diaries, an online survey and online interviews with paramedics. The research is designed to explore the working conditions, wellbeing and organisational and management practices (workplace climate) that characterise the working environment of this group of workers. In doing so, this study illuminates in greater detail individual issues within the ambulance service. Ambulance services staff are facing increasingly stressful working conditions. As such there is a growing need to provide detailed research and evidence as a catalyst and platform for intervention strategies to address issues facing the profession in new times of COVID-19.
REC name
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REC reference
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