Psychosocial risk and protective factors for the health and well-being of professionals working in emergency and non-emergency medical transport services, identified via questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Medical transport (MT) professionals are subject to considerable emotional demands due to their involvement in life-or-death situations and their exposure to the serious health problems of their clients. An increase in the demand for MT services has, in turn, increased interest in the study of the psychosocial risk factors affecting the health of workers in this sector. However, research thus far has not distinguished between emergency (EMT) and non-emergency (non-EMT) services, nor between the sexes. Furthermore, little emphasis has been placed on the protective factors involved. The main objective of the present study is to identify any existing differential exposure – for reasons of work setting (EMT and non-EMT) or of gender – to the various psychosocial risk and protective factors affecting the health of MT workers. METHODS: Descriptive and transversal research with responses from 201 professionals. RESULTS: The scores obtained on the various psychosocial scales in our study – as indicators of future health problems – were more unfavourable for non-EMT workers than they were for EMT workers. Work setting, but not gender, was able to account for these differences. DISCUSSION: The scores obtained for the different psychosocial factors are generally more favourable for the professionals we surveyed than those obtained in previous samples. CONCLUSION: The significant differences observed between EMT and non-EMT personnel raise important questions regarding the organization of work in companies that carry out both services at the same time in the same territory. The relationships among the set of risk/protective factors suggests a need for further investigation into working conditions as well as a consideration of the workers’ sense of coherence and subjective well-being as protective factors against occupational burnout syndrome.