Stoking the Flames of Wellness: An Exploration of Factors that Influence West Virginia Firefighters' Health Behaviors

The concern over health and wellness among firefighters in the US has escalated recently due to increasing obesity rates, on-duty cardiovascular event risk, and job stress. Besides unique aspects of the work, a number of other barriers to health and wellness have been identified within the firefighter culture. Using a qualitative approach with multiple sources of data, the current study 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 done to provide ethnographic data. Seven main factors were identified as impacting firefighters' health in West Virginia: stress, nutrition, general factors, physical activity, sleep, motivation, and job related concerns. Participants also discussed potential solutions to health concerns among firefighters, such as incentive and education programs. Recommendations for future studies, including possible interventions, are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sport and Exercise Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Wooding, Chelsea B.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Samuel Zizzi
• Christiaan Abildso
• Malayna Bernstein
• Christine Schimmel
• Jack Watson

• Occupational psychology
• Public health
• Health care management
• Physiological psychology

Identifier

https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/485

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchrepository.wvu.edu:etd-1488