Diversity, preventive work and education—matters of health and well-being in firefighter discourse

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The aim of this study is to analyse how recurrent health hindrance themes in the firefighter discourse, identified by firefighters themselves, relate to a set of policies about diversity, preventive work and education of firefighters. The intention is further to discuss the implications of these policy initiatives and the resistance against them in terms of firefighters’ health and well-being at work.

Method: Firefighters from three different rescue stations in Sweden, participated in either a focus group discussion or individual interviews. Different themes in firefighter discourse that were described as hindrances to the health and well-being of firefighters were identified. A strategic sample of policy documents that relate to the very same themes was also chosen for analysis and here we combined critical discourse analysis (CDA) with critical policy analysis.

Results: The health hindrance themes regarding diversity, preventive work and education that firefighters identified have in common that they relate to changes in work culture and the firefighter profession.

Conclusion: In conclusion, we argue that the most important challenge for the rescue service to tackle in the future, is how to transform firefighting to be more inclusive and yet maintaining the good health and well-being that exists among the vast majority of today’s firefighters.

KEYWORDS:

• Health
• well-being
• critical discourse analysis
• firefighters
• critical policy analysis
• diversity
• preventive work
• education

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to all firefighters that participated in this study. This study was initiated as a part of a project funded by Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) and the Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Umeå University. We are also grateful for the financial support from the Faculty of Arts, Umeå University, Sweden.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Contributions

Study design: AJ, AES; data collection; AJ; SB; data analysis: AJ, AES; manuscript preparation: AJ, AES.

Additional information

Funding

The study was funded by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, Department for training and exercises and Umeå University, Department of Nursing. The study was approved by the Regional Ethics Review Board in Umea, Sweden (No 08-186M).

Notes on contributors

Ann Jacobsson

Ann Jacobsson, (RNA, MD) is an Associate professor at the Department of Nursing, Umeå University. One of her areas of research is to understand health in an explanatory context. In her analyses, she links micro, meso and macro levels, i. e. involves the individual, education, work organization and society / social development to understand the context in which emergency personnel work and its impact on their well-being and health. She has a teaching experience from various study programs and courses for rescue personnel. She is also a project manager in a project funded by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), within the above-mentioned research topic.

Susann Backteman-Erlanson

Susann Backteman Erlanson (RNT, PhD) is a Senior Lecturer at Department of Nursing, Umeå University. The research activity for Backteman-Erlanson is focused on work environment and health for police personnel and firefighters. She is also a member in the Steering committee for a SIDA funded project together with Karolinska Institutet and Muhimbili University of Allied Sciences and Health, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with a research project for developing preventive and prehospital care regarding road traffic injuries in Tanzania.

Annika Egan Sjolander

Annika Egan Sjölander (PhD) is Associate Professor in Media and Communication Studies and works as Senior Lecturer at the Department och Culture and Media Studies, Umeå University, Sweden. She has a long-standing interest in discourse analysis and interdisciplinary research. “Communication for sustainable societies in the Anthropocene” is the name of her research programme that analyses what roles media and communication play when handling pressing environmental problems such as climate change or water scarcity. The Local and the Digital in Environmental Communication (Palgrave, 2020) is her latest co-edited book.