Abstract

Police, fire, ambulance, and emergency services workers face an increased exposure to traumatic events while at work, negatively affecting their mental health, and with broader financial, legal, and moral implications for the public sector organizations that employ them. To better support these workers, and to mitigate the potential financial burden resulting from workers’ compensation claims, many first responder organizations are implementing wellbeing initiatives. This article examines the efficacy of an initiative for a sample of 530 frontline and administrative first responders, working in one state jurisdiction in Australia. The results indicate that wellbeing programmes moderate the impact of trauma on stress for frontline workers. However, the study also highlights that team belongingness and managerial support play a key role in shaping first responder’s psychological distress. The implication of this article is that first responder organizations can realize more profound benefits from crafting a supportive and positive team and organizational climate.

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

1-1-2024

School

School of Business and Law

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Identifier

Aglae Hernandez Grande: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2437-7297

Fleur Sharafizad: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2495-4381

Ben Farr-Wharton: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9987-934X

Comments

Hernandez Grande, A., Sharafizad, F., Farr-Wharton, B., Brunetto, Y., & Richman, M. (2024). Managing the impact of workplace trauma for Australian first responders: Harmonizing policy and practice. Public Money & Management. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2024.2401942

Download

Share

 
COinS
 

Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1080/09540962.2024.2401942