Firefighter Mental Health Research Study

Welcome to the Firefighter Mental Health Research Study

Coping with Stressors: Understanding Negative Emotions, Harmful Strategies, and the Role of Fire Service Culture

Are you a firefighter and haven't participated in the firefighter mental health study? Join thousands of other firefighters contributing to this nationwide, NSF funded project.

You are invited to be in a research study aimed to understand how firefighters cope with stress under fire service culture.

Your participation in this anonymous survey is entirely voluntary.

Take the survey

Complete the survey

Complete the survey questionnaire by clicking the ‘Take Survey’ link above or by scanning the QR code below with your phone camera and completing it within three weeks.

qr code

Complete a second survey

Approximately four weeks later, you will be asked to finish another session of the online survey questionnaire (a new link will be provided).

About our research

Firefighters, like other first responders such as police, EMS, and medical personnel, are facing increasing concerns about their mental health and well-being due to the stressful nature of their jobs. We are a research
team from Oklahoma State University (including faculty from Fire and Emergency Management Administration and the Department of Management) and are currently conducting a study funded by the NSF titled Coping with
Stressors: Understanding Negative Emotions, Harmful Strategies, and the Role of Emergency Services Culture.”

Our objective is to secure around 10,000 respondents from career and volunteer covering both urban and rural departments. In doing so, the study will help us learn more about the factors underlying firefighter s stress
coping strategies and the possible consequences and may help fire service organizations improve their cultures, find better practices for employees coping with stressors, make better policies addressing incidents involving
harmful behaviors, and promote employee well-being.

View the award

What are we studying

Our study examines various coping strategies as well as the influence of fire service culture that varies across departments, stations, and shifts. Focusing on the impact of the fire service culture provides unique insight into the role of organizational culture on mental health outcomes. The findings of the project can contribute to an improved understanding of stress and coping for first responders, ensuring that communities continue to receive high-quality emergency responses while promoting the well-being of first responders.

Firefighter mental health research receives new OSU Public Impact research award

Secure a random sample size large enough to assess leadership and culture variance at the station, department, and country levels.

Author, deliver, and present rigorous reports of results to participating departments. Develop journal manuscripts for peer review and present at academic conferences.

Assess the generalizability of our results across career types, organizational sizes, community types and the sectors.

Continue validation of our original stressor and withdrawal scales which will expand our knowledge on the most problematic types of events and their outcomes, guiding both research and leaders on intervention strategies.

Preliminary Research Implications

The pilot studies we have done have led to significant organizational changes. Some of these changes include a budget justification for a mental health coordinator, enhancements to a Public Safety Occupational Clinic, changes to operations that affect sleep and dispatch tones (the tones within a station or on their radios that alert firefighters to a call) for firefighters that work 24-hour shifts. The pilot study additionally helped with the incorporation of therapy dogs and peer support groups. Our research also led to the first of-its-kind stand-down for mental health in which peer-support personnel went to each station within the fire department to provide information about the mental health resources available at the department.

National Science Foundation

Our research is funded by the National Science Foundation

OSU Fire and Emergency Management Administration

Our research is led by OSU's Fire and Emergency Management Program

Spears School of Business

Our research is led by OSU's Spears School of Business