Counting the cost: Psychological distress in career and auxiliary firefighters

Abstract

to psychological distress as a result of attending traumatic events. However, few studies have examined this finding in terms of the subgroups that exist in the firefighting population. This study compared the degree of psychological distress reported by career and auxiliary firefighters. Self-report questionnaires, including measures of traumatic incident exposure, general psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire –28) and symptomatic responses to traumatic stressors (Impact of Events Scale Revised), were completed by 75 career and 67 auxiliary Australian firefighters. Career firefighters reported more psychological distress than auxiliary firefighters, with length of firefighter service being associated with the difference in psychological distress reported by the two types of firefighters. The results support the literature linking length of firefighting service with psychological distress. However, a caveat was placed on inferring causal relationships between length of service only and psychological distress.