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Job Demands and Exhaustion in Firefighters: The Moderating Role of Work Meaning. A Cross-Sectional Study

Emotional exhaustion and other symptoms of burnout are often found among emergency services professions, such as firefighting. Given the social importance of this activity and the high responsibility it requires, prevention and alleviation of burnout symptoms become primary concerns in ensuring the...

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Autores principales: Roșca, Andra Cătălina, Mateizer, Alexandru, Dan, Cristina-Ioana, Demerouti, Evangelia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8472436/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34574742
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189819
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author Roșca, Andra Cătălina
Mateizer, Alexandru
Dan, Cristina-Ioana
Demerouti, Evangelia
author_facet Roșca, Andra Cătălina
Mateizer, Alexandru
Dan, Cristina-Ioana
Demerouti, Evangelia
author_sort Roșca, Andra Cătălina
collection PubMed
description Emotional exhaustion and other symptoms of burnout are often found among emergency services professions, such as firefighting. Given the social importance of this activity and the high responsibility it requires, prevention and alleviation of burnout symptoms become primary concerns in ensuring the well-being of firefighters. Although work meaning is one of the factors associated with a lower risk of developing burnout, its protective role has not been studied in firefighters. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the buffering role of work meaning in the health-impairment process of the Job Demands-Resources model, targeting the relationship between job demands and related emotional exhaustion. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from a sample consisting of Romanian firefighters (n = 1096). Structural equation modeling indicated a positive link between job demands and exhaustion. In addition, deriving personal meaning from work was associated with lower levels of exhaustion in firefighters. A small but significant interaction effect between work meaning and job demands showed that higher levels of work meaning attenuated the positive relationship between job demands and exhaustion. In conclusion, our findings suggest that work meaning has a buffering effect on the impact of various job demands on job-related exhaustion. Nevertheless, the small effect sizes warrant further research on this topic.
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spelling pubmed-84724362021-09-28 Job Demands and Exhaustion in Firefighters: The Moderating Role of Work Meaning. A Cross-Sectional Study Roșca, Andra Cătălina Mateizer, Alexandru Dan, Cristina-Ioana Demerouti, Evangelia Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Emotional exhaustion and other symptoms of burnout are often found among emergency services professions, such as firefighting. Given the social importance of this activity and the high responsibility it requires, prevention and alleviation of burnout symptoms become primary concerns in ensuring the well-being of firefighters. Although work meaning is one of the factors associated with a lower risk of developing burnout, its protective role has not been studied in firefighters. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the buffering role of work meaning in the health-impairment process of the Job Demands-Resources model, targeting the relationship between job demands and related emotional exhaustion. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data from a sample consisting of Romanian firefighters (n = 1096). Structural equation modeling indicated a positive link between job demands and exhaustion. In addition, deriving personal meaning from work was associated with lower levels of exhaustion in firefighters. A small but significant interaction effect between work meaning and job demands showed that higher levels of work meaning attenuated the positive relationship between job demands and exhaustion. In conclusion, our findings suggest that work meaning has a buffering effect on the impact of various job demands on job-related exhaustion. Nevertheless, the small effect sizes warrant further research on this topic. MDPI 2021-09-17 /pmc/articles/PMC8472436/ /pubmed/34574742 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189819 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Roșca, Andra Cătălina
Mateizer, Alexandru
Dan, Cristina-Ioana
Demerouti, Evangelia
Job Demands and Exhaustion in Firefighters: The Moderating Role of Work Meaning. A Cross-Sectional Study
title Job Demands and Exhaustion in Firefighters: The Moderating Role of Work Meaning. A Cross-Sectional Study
title_full Job Demands and Exhaustion in Firefighters: The Moderating Role of Work Meaning. A Cross-Sectional Study
title_fullStr Job Demands and Exhaustion in Firefighters: The Moderating Role of Work Meaning. A Cross-Sectional Study
title_full_unstemmed Job Demands and Exhaustion in Firefighters: The Moderating Role of Work Meaning. A Cross-Sectional Study
title_short Job Demands and Exhaustion in Firefighters: The Moderating Role of Work Meaning. A Cross-Sectional Study
title_sort job demands and exhaustion in firefighters: the moderating role of work meaning. a cross-sectional study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8472436/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34574742
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189819
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