ERIC Number: EJ1257043
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1935-3308
EISSN: N/A
An Exploration of the Factors That Influence West Virginia Firefighters Health Behaviors
Wooding, Chelsea; Bernstein, Malayna; Cormier, Marc L.; Zizzi, Sam
Journal of Ethnographic & Qualitative Research, v13 n2 p134-154 Win 2018
Recently, concern over firefighter health and wellness in the United States has escalated due to increasing obesity rates, on-duty cardiovascular event risk, and job stress. A range of barriers to health and wellness have been identified within firefighter culture, but the way these barriers manifest in firefighters' lives is not well-understood. Using a qualitative approach with multiple data sources, we sought to answer the question, "What impacts the health of firefighters in West Virginia?" Eight focus groups and Photovoice data from nine participants were inductively analyzed using guidelines from consensual qualitative research. House tours were also used in order to provide contextualizing ethnographic data. Overall, seven factors were identified as impacting firefighters' health in West Virginia including stress, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, motivation, time, and other miscellanies factors impacting firefighter health. Second cycle coding showed complex relationships between these individual factors.
Descriptors: Health Behavior, Fire Protection, Occupational Safety and Health, Wellness, Barriers, Stress Variables, Nutrition, Physical Activity Level, Sleep, Motivation, Time Management, Participant Characteristics, Photography, Volunteers, Eating Habits, Fatigue (Biology), Context Effect
Cedarville University. 251 North Main Street, Cedarville, OH 45314. Tel: 937-766-3242; Fax: 937-766-7971; e-mail: jeqr@comcast.net; Web site: http://www.jeqr.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: West Virginia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A