Applying occupational psychology to the fire service emotion, risk and decision making

Editors Applying Occupational Psychology to the Fire Service Emotion, Risk and Decision-Making... Table 2.1 Roles emotions can play for decision-making Table 2.2 Stages of a PRISMA-P s

APPLYING

OCCUPATIONAL

PSYCHOLOGY TO THE FIRE SERVICE

EMOTION, RISK

EDITED BY THOMAS RHYS EVANS AND GAIL STEPTOE-WARREN

to the Fire Service

Editors Applying Occupational

Psychology to the

Fire Service Emotion, Risk and Decision-Making

Coventry University

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14588-0

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019932973

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2 Emotions in the Fire Service: Decision-Making,

Thomas Rhys Evans

3 When the Going Gets Tough: Adult Resilience

Alana Juman Blincoe and Christine Grant

4 Taking an Intervention Approach to Assess Job

Redesign in the UK Fire and Rescue Service:

Karen Maher

Part III Risk and Safety

5 Can More Be Done to Reduce Firefighter Injury? 135

Bill Gough

6 The Utility of Perceived Community Efficacy

Frank Watt and Pat Tissington

Gail Steptoe-Warren and Thomas Rhys Evans

Part IV Decision-Making

8 Decision-Making: Inside the Mind of the Incident

Pat Tissington and Frank Watt

9 Assessing Operational Preparedness in Incident

Sophie Ward, Gail Steptoe-Warren and Thomas Rhys Evans

Part V Discussion

10 The Impact and Future of Occupational Psychology

Thomas Rhys Evans and Gail Steptoe-Warren

Dr Thomas Rhys Evans is an Associate Professor in Occupational Psychology at Coventry University Tom’s work focusses upon the social and affective components of work, with a particular passion for Open

Science Tom has published in Emotion, Emotion Review, Advances in

Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, and Frontiers in Psychology,

amongst others

Bill Gough retired as one of the longest serving senior operational officers in the British Fire Service, with over 42 years’ service, and was awarded the Queens Fire Service Medal in 2012 He lectures

in Emergency Planning and Operational Risk management at the University of Wolverhampton and has an M.Sc in Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management from the University of Leicester He is cur-rently studying a Ph.D at Coventry University exploring the implica-tions for error management and injury reduction based on an analysis

of Firefighter injury sustained during operations Experienced in post event investigation and analysis he has been involved in the investiga-tion of Firefighter fatalities and is devoted to improving the safety of firefighters

Dr Christine Grant is a Chartered and HCPC registered Occupational Psychologist and Associate Head of School at Coventry University Christine’s research focuses on workplace well-being including, building resilience, ‘the switched on culture’, agile working, competency devel-opment and designing measures for e-workers Christine has published widely including in the Journal of Employee Relations and has also appeared frequently in the media including on BBC breakfast.

Alana Juman Blincoe is an Organisational Psychologist working as a consultant and trainer and has lectured in Occupational Psychology at Coventry University Alana’s work focusses on individual resilience in the workplace, including its measurement and development As a for-mer editor and journalist, Alana has contributed to The Guardian’s ‘Top

100 Companies’, and the British Midwifery Journal, amongst other titles

Dr Karen Maher is a Lecturer and Occupational Health Psychologist

at Coventry University Karen’s work focusses on workplace well-being, both physical and psychological, and the links between well-being and operational performance Prior to training as a Psychologist, she was employed within the Fire and Rescue Service as an Occupational Health and Fitness Advisor working with both operational and support staff

to maintain a good workforce Karen publishes on both psychological issues and the management/measurement of performance in the FRS, and has an active interest in the use of mindfulness in the emergency services to promote well-being and performance

Dr Gail Steptoe-Warren is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist and Associate Head of School at Coventry University Gail’s work focusses upon decision-making, leadership and Situational Judgement

Tests Gail has published in the Journal of Strategy and Management and

Assessment and Development Matters, amongst others.

Dr Pat Tissington is a Professor of Organisational Psychology and is the strategic lead on employability at the University of Warwick His research focusses on human performance in high reliability environ-ments such as the emergency services, military and national security

Sophie Ward is a Lecturer and Doctoral Researcher in Occupational Psychology at Coventry University Sophie’s work focusses on situational constraints and individual differences in emotional and behavioural reactions at work, as well as decision-making, employee well-being and scale development Sophie is a qualified user of Occupational Ability

Tests and Personality Assessments, and has published in the Journal of

Engineering Management Research and Occupational Psychology Matters,

amongst others

Dr Frank Watt served as an Assistant Chief Fire Officer in the UK Fire and Rescue Service He has responded to a range of public safety incidents, including civil emergencies, potential acts of terrorism and has acted as Gold Commander at storm and flooding related incidents Initial research into these severe weather incidents focussed on commu-nity awareness and preparedness This led to a Ph.D research project completed in 2016 Frank has gained an M.B.A from the University

of Strathclyde, an M.Sc in Command and Management from the University of Central Lancashire and a Ph.D from Birkbeck, University

of London

Fig 4.1 Job Demands-Resources Model (Adapted from Bakker

Fig 4.2 Framework for the exploration of the introduction

Fig 5.1 Post-modernisation incident trend Taken from fire

Fig 5.2 Demonstrating the operational injury trend in recent years

Fig 5.3 Demonstrating the number of injuries sustained whilst

responding, in attendance, and returning from operational

Fig 5.4 Operational injury trend Taken from fire and rescue

workforce and pensions statistics: England, April

Fig 8.1 Fire incident command decision-making model

Fig 9.1 The constructs of operational preparedness

Fig 9.2 Flow chart providing an overview of the two-phase

Table 2.1 Roles emotions can play for decision-making

Table 2.2 Stages of a PRISMA-P systematic literature review

Table 5.1 Reductions in operational staff since 2009 (taken

Table 5.2 Record of operational fatalities in the United Kingdom,

Table 5.7 Research involving the application of HFACS

Table 6.4 Variable number, items, and factor allocation 190 Table 8.1 The seven stages of decision-making

Table 8.2 Results of laddering study—a complete set of incident

Part I

Introduction

History of the Fire Service

Whilst there has been evidence of firefighting as early as Ancient Egypt, with the invention of a water pump by Ctesibius of Alexandria, fire-fighting practices have (fortunately!) undergone dramatic change In 115BC Marcus Crassus developed a Fire Service whereby firefighters would stand inactive until a price was agreed with the property owner This was a lucrative system: either being paid to fight fires or in letting buildings burn to the ground then offering to purchase the land at a discounted rate The next major service was named the ‘Vigiles’, formed

by Emperor Nero in AD60, which acted to fulfil both police and Fire Service functions

T R Evans and G Steptoe-Warren (eds.), Applying Occupational Psychology

to the Fire Service, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14588-0_1

T R Evans (*) · G Steptoe-Warren

School of Psychological, Social and Behavioural Sciences,

Coventry University, Coventry, UK

e-mail: ab6443@coventry.ac.uk

G Steptoe-Warren

e-mail: hsx566@coventry.ac.uk

Firefighting became a much more structured and consistent activity following the Great Fire of London in 1666 Burning roughly 2 square miles of London, insurance companies formed Fire Services to address the need for property protection This system continued into the early 1800s but was flawed in that buildings often burnt down before the correct insurance brigade arrived To mitigate such issues, insurance companies often merged and more nuanced equipment such as pumps, hoses, and fire engines (or ‘sucking worm engine’ as originally patented) were developed.

Firefighting is now far more complex One of the more significant developments is the diversification of the role demands The Fire Service now attend a wide range of incident types, often alongside other Blue Light Services, requiring much greater strategic decision-making For example, road traffic accidents, chemical incidents, water rescues, emer-gencies caused by natural disasters, and more complex fires driven by the increasing quantity and diversity of synthetic household materials

In addition to incident diversity, there are also now less incidents; the Fire Services put a much greater focus upon engaging communities with prevention interventions Current estimates suggest only 5% of fire-fighter time is spent responding to incidents Such limited opportuni-ties to gain practical experience, and the dramatic increase in diversity

of incidents attended, has placed a significant demand on the training

of firefighters to ensure personnel and public safety

In addition to the changing demands of the Service, the context in which the Fire Service is directed is also undergoing change For exam-ple, the UK Government has been steadily cutting the Fire Service budget since 2010/2011, with implications for staffing and resources which have been commonly attributed to the 31-second increase in response time between 2010/2011 and 2015/2016 Since 2015 the UK Fire Service began partnerships with private organisations to provide a more cost-effective service Together with the increasing demands upon firefighters, this drive for cost-efficiency looks to represent a particularly challenging environment for the future of the Fire Service

The Fire Service now stands as an organisation like no other

Imagine…Your organisation expects their workers to make complex decisions whilst physically and mentally tackling life-threatening and

traumatic situations Decisions at all levels within the organisation have consequences for the protection and survival of others Your organisa-tion is responsible for the protection of the general public and acts as the final barrier between life and death in a diverse range of extreme situations The finances, priorities, and control of your organisation are often heavily influenced by politics; these are infrequently positive The organisation is constantly questioned for cost-effectiveness and forced to

‘do more with less’ Actions by all members of staff are susceptible to public scrutiny

Our Approach

Working within the Fire Service is clearly a rewarding and challenging context to call your occupational home Individuals working at any level, whether receiving 999 calls, fighting fires, or making decisions that could have consequences on life, are all worthy of our attention and support Occupational Psychology, which is the application of psy-chological knowledge to the workplace, seems like a particularly valua-ble field to support these important individuals

Occupational Psychology typically includes five key themes of work: (a) psychological assessment at work, (b) learning, training, and devel-opment, (c) leadership, engagement, and motivation, (d) well-being and work, and (e) work design, organisational change, and development

As such, Occupational Psychologists can have a wide range of impacts

on organisations through the diagnosis of, and subsequent ment of recommendations for, occupational challenges The issues com-monly tackled include designing more effective recruitment or training policies, implementing strategies to facilitate organisational change or improve employee well-being, and tackling issues of communication and leadership

develop-Within the current book we examine how a range of research projects conducted in the field of Occupational Psychology have impacted our understanding and have changed the policies, procedures, and practices

of those working on the ground in the Fire Service Applying best-practice principles and modern theories, the projects discussed provide

exemplar examples of the application of Occupational Psychology

We hope this will be useful for students contemplating and trainees pursuing their career in Occupational Psychology, for Occupational Psychology practitioners considering lending their support to the Fire Service, and for fire personnel wanting to adopt best practices within their work Exploring the psychological factors involved in impor-tant individual, team, and organisational decisions, the current book hopes to support a better understanding of the psychological factors in play within the Fire Service context

This book is broadly split into three sections In the first we

exam-ine the role of emotion in greater depth, looking at our current

under-standing of its role in modern Fire Service practice, the definition and function of resilience, and the role of emotion in context of well-

being during job redesign The second section explores risk Three

per-spectives are considered: those of firefighters, communities, and the general public The final section delves further into our understanding

of decision-making, looking at two perspectives on decision-making on

the ground

Whilst these three themes have been partitioned, it is worth noting that the divide between them is artificial Given the interrelated role of these factors it is impossible to separate one from another For exam-ple, Chapter 2 considers how emotional states impact decision-making, Chapter 6 considers whether emotions can change perceptions and actions towards risk, and Chapter 8 demonstrates the fundamental role

of risk perception in the decision-making process

Each chapter, ranging in themes from community self-efficacy to behavioural diversity, presents an exemplar piece of work which applies the principles, theories, and best practices of the field to the practices of those working within the Fire Service In addition to providing insights derived from literature reviews or empirical research, as highlighted by the chapter overview below, each chapter explores the broader implica-tions of the research In each chapter we look beyond the Fire Service to identify the recommendations, opportunities, and gaps in understand-ing for other (international) emergency services, and other organisation and industry types

Chapter Overview

Chapter 2 will focus on the importance of emotions within the work conducted by Fire Service personnel Examining decision-making, risk, and coping, the role of emotions in context of the lives of those work-ing within the Fire Service are explored through a systematic literature review Drawing from a contemporary model of Emotional Intelligence, the intense demands placed upon Fire Service personnel are discussed alongside the benefits and risks associated with the emotions experi-enced and the strategies used to manage them Key findings within the literature are synthesised and demonstrate the fundamental roles of emotion for effective coping and decision-making, and securing mean-ingful work and team cohesion Whilst some consensuses emerge from the field, there is much left to do to encourage acknowledgement of the role of emotions at all levels of the Fire Service and thus recommenda-tions for conducting Job Analyses are provided

Chapter 3 explores the definition of adult Resilience, looking at the meaning and relevance of the term to firefighters Following a review

of historical definitions informed by developmental and clinical chology, findings from twelve interviews analysed using Thematic Analysis are presented It is concluded that firefighters identify and construct their ability to deal with the adverse events they experience

psy-in their work roles through coppsy-ing mechanisms, self-efficacy, and tive learning A checklist for qualitative interview research is presented, alongside a definition of adult resilience suitable for application

reflec-Chapter 4 considers how the changes in work conditions following the introduction of ‘Alternative Crewing Arrangements’ (ACA) crewing influenced work-related well-being and operational effectiveness within the Fire Service A comparison of the traditional 2:2:4 crewing structure and the new ACA structure is provided with an outline to the potential risks to work-related well-being Drawing upon a theoretical framework

to understand both the outcomes and processes of workplace tions, the findings of a body of triangulated research demonstrate the need to explore job redesign interventions from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective to understand what works for whom, how, why,

interven-and under which circumstances An exploration of the findings with reference to the Job Demands-Resources model facilitates development

of the model to highlight the role of attributions in the experience of demands and resources Through consideration of the ways in which

an intervention to improve operational efficiency is likely to be enced by frontline staff, services can be best prepared to prevent nega-tive impact on both service delivery and employee well-being

experi-Chapter 5 explores the moment of firefighter decision-making in action A Human Factors analysis of firefighter injury sustained during emergency response operations is presented, based on evidence provided

by English Fire Services throughout 2015 The findings presented lish that competent, professional, and experienced firefighters are more likely to be injured in the operational domain of the Fire Service, some

estab-on repeated occasiestab-ons For the most part firefighters will be injured

in the relatively inert environmental conditions of the daytime hours The majority of injuries will be associated with fires but not directly with firefighting or search and rescue In addition, for the first time, a Human Factors analysis shows that injury is likely to result from the attention failures of automated behaviour and mistakes in task activity The implications of using Human Factors analysis for error manage-ment and injury reduction in Fire Services is evaluated based upon insights presented

Chapter 6 explores the utility of perceived community efficacy

in emergency preparedness A mixed method project structured using Social Cognitive Theory is presented The qualitative research phase explores data collected from 20 interviews with residents in high-risk flood areas identified through Environment Agency map-ping Qualitative data informed the development of a new model and measure of perceived community efficacy featuring three fac-tors: Community Network Structure, Social Capital and Community Capacity Tested on 501 individuals in flood risk zones, the quantitative research phase demonstrated how perceived community efficacy was predictive of the community’s likelihood of undertaking preparedness activities Findings highlight the need for leadership during prepared-ness activities and for awareness of residents’ presence when Fire and Police personnel determine courses of action on the incident ground

Community preparedness teams should be identified and seen as a uable resource in terms of emergency planning Recommendations are made for how to facilitate greater community awareness and engage-ment with preparedness activities.

val-Chapter 7 presents the current understanding of how the general public respond to fires, discussed from the viewpoint of both the Fire Service, and academia The consequences of public responses to fire and to the Fire Service are discussed, with respect to risk, response times (and their subsequent consequences), Fire Service targets and resourcing, and communities The current study adopts an interview methodology to explore the experiences of previous victims of fire Following a brief introduction of the participants (anonymised), results

of interviews are presented, exploring how the individuals were alerted, responded to, and felt towards fire outbreaks, and the subsequent impact upon the trust of the Fire Service The organisational conse-quences of the diversity in responses are discussed with reference to the potential for altering expected response times The wider conclusions for risk and diversity in responses to emergency events for the blue-light services are noted

Chapter 8 explores the decision-making of firefighters in greater detail The relevance of Classical and Naturalistic Decision Theories of decision-making are critically reviewed to highlight the need for a more realistic model suitable for application in the Fire Service Towards this goal, the current study first adopted a laddering method of knowledge elicitation to develop a set of example incidents that account for the diverse range of incidents attended These incidents were then devel-oped into a card-sort task to determine the relevance of time and risk (directed card-sort), and to determine other factors of relevance in decision-making (free-sort) Results suggested four dimensions of importance: crew safety, complexity of casualty rescue, time-pressure, and containment Encouraging a more explicit decision-making process, the way in which this model can act as a scaffold for learning during training activities is discussed

Chapter 9 focuses on operational preparedness in incident ers, and in particular, the assessment of such within tactical incident commanders from a Fire Service in the United Kingdom This chapter

command-provides an overview of some of the recent incidents within the Fire Service which have raised concerns over the Operational Preparedness

of incident commanders, and a theoretical framework of Operational Preparedness developed in relation to the Fire Service, focusing in detail

on the five theoretical constructs of trust, information gathering, skills, experience, and incident learning The contrast between analytical and intuitive decision-making in the context of Fire Service practice is explored The current research presented surrounds the initial develop-ment and validation of a situational judgement test to assess whether tactical incident commanders within a Fire Service are operationally prepared to deal with unusual and complex incidents The methodol-ogy, results, conclusions, as well as recommendations for future devel-opment of the situational judgement test and implications for practice, are presented This chapter then concludes by looking at future develop-ment and validation opportunities

Chapter 10, the final chapter, brings together the contributions

of the current body of work in emotion, risk, and decision-making Lessons gleaned about the design and implementation of Occupational Psychology-based projects in the context of the Fire Service are also discussed We then look forward to the future of the Fire Service, and the study of Psychology as a whole, to determine the future value and priorities for Occupational Psychology in this context In particular,

we examine how Open Science principles can improve our practices and lead to more convincing conclusions, and how the Occupational Psychology community can positively influence various organisational, team, individual, and community needs within the Fire Service We finish with a call to arms for more robust practices to support the Fire Service

Part II

Emotion

Introduction

Dealing with traumatic events, interrupted sleep, and pressured decision-making are only a few of the emotional complexities associ-ated with working within the Fire Service context Given the plethora of emotive situations and skills demanded from firefighters, emotion man-agement is fundamental for effective practice (Scott & Myers, 2005) However, little is known about how the prominence of emotions impact the work conducted, and whilst there are various similarities to other blue-light services, the Fire Service is a unique context to work within

To first clarify the scope of the topic discussed, emotion requires a definition The latest academic definition suggests emotions feature

a number of key criteria: they must represent an affective ‘episode’, be based upon a perceptual or intellectual episode (e.g perception of dan-ger), be trigged and guided by at least one appraisal (e.g an impending

2

Emotions in the Fire Service:

Decision-Making, Risk, and Coping

Thomas Rhys Evans

© The Author(s) 2019

T R Evans and G Steptoe-Warren (eds.), Applying Occupational Psychology

to the Fire Service, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14588-0_2

T R Evans (*)

School of Psychological, Social and Behavioural Sciences,

Coventry University, Coventry, UK

e-mail: ab6443@coventry.ac.uk

rescue), have the property of intentionality (e.g fear toward a fire or pride towards oneself), and contain a bodily change (e.g increased rate

of breathing and self-doubting thoughts; Mulligan & Scherer, 2012) Historically emotions have been considered as problematic for ration-ality, and thus a barrier to effective decision-making However, con-temporary emotion research acknowledges the vital roles, both positive and negative, emotions can play within the workplace (Pfister & Böhm, 2008)

Working within the Fire Service evokes a varied range of strong, plex, and often negative, emotions Powerlessness, horror, aggression, fear, and grief all need negotiating, and young victims, multiple deaths, burned victims, and the death of colleagues, are just some of the more extreme trigger situations for such emotions (De Soir et al., 2012) Thus, whether you exert controlled aggression at the incident, vent feel-ings at the station afterward, or deal with these emotional situations in another way, emotion management is essential for working with the Fire Service context (Scott & Myers, 2005)

com-Working within the Fire Service is particularly affective when sidering the importance of emotive themes such as trust which under-lies effective performance (Colquitt, LePine, Zapata, & Wild, 2011, see also Chapter 9) For example, venting emotions in acceptable ways can support bonding with fellow firefighters and become part of a method

con-of coping for some con-of the more unpleasant aspects con-of the role (Hughes

& Evans, 2016; Parlamis, 2012) Empirical evidence asserts that Firefighters are more likely to be excitement-seekers (Salters-Pedneault, Ruef, & Orr, 2010) and thus the physical and mental requirements of the role do often pose challenges for managing emotions appropriately and thus maintaining long-term physical and mental health (Huang

et al., 2010)

However, it is not just the work itself that can be emotionally demanding Often acculturating to the Fire Service environment can be difficult, with a period of adjustment needed to establish norms and to learn the emotional display rules (Scott & Myers, 2005) Furthermore, the major concerns surrounding the profession add further emotional complications For example, staff shortages, budget constraints, com-plexity of incidents, high levels of stress and burnout, increasingly

diverse terrorist events, communication and relationship issues, and an ageing population, place greater demands upon the Fire Service and interact to form the intricate context within which the work is con-ducted (Couper & Karimi, 2013).

It is also worth remembering that issues outside of work can also increase the affective load managed For example, in a sample of vol-unteer firefighters, the greatest predictor of health problems was expe-

riencing distressing events during work and in personal life (Morren,

Yzermans, van Nispen, & Wevers, 2005) This is further complicated

as the nature of the role can sometimes provide additional tions For example, the use of shift patterns can place greater strains on relationships (Strazdins, Clements, Korda, Broom, & D’Souza, 2006) and health (Gan et al., 2014; Vyas et al., 2012; see also Chapter 4) Acknowledging the daily work content, the organisational culture, and the lives experienced outside work, the role of those working in the Fire Service is inherently complex and emotionally demanding

complica-Theory: Emotional Intelligence

We do not all appraise and respond to emotional situations in the same manner Riding in the back of an appliance, there are likely a range of emotions being experienced towards the same job: some may be fearful

or anxious, some may be positive and excited Similarly, some may be able

to control these emotions well for optimum performance, and for some

it may inhibit their performance Here we are discussing individual ences, and the most popular term associated with individual differences of

differ-an affective nature is ‘Emotional Intelligence’ (EI) Indeed, some ers have argued that key individuals within the Fire Service e.g leaders, would benefit from high EI (Calo, 2012 ).

research-There is a lot of confusion as to what EI constitutes (Evans, 2019 ; Evans & Steptoe-Warren, 2015 ) EI has been plagued by what is known

as the ‘Jingle-Jangle’ fallacy: erroneous assumptions that two affective individual differences are the same as they bare the same EI label (jin- gle) or are different because they hold different labels (jangle) Based upon the latest review of the literature, EI refers to three main groups

of individual differences (Hughes & Evans, 2018 ) First, Ability EI (e.g MacCann, Joseph, Newman & Roberts, 2014 ) represents a second-stra- tum factor of intelligence, capturing the cognitive abilities of emotion perception, understanding and management (Evans, Hughes, & Steptoe- Warren, 2019 ) Second, Affect-related Personality Traits (formerly Trait EI e.g Petrides, 2010 ) represent a number of affect-related or affect-laden

personality traits that span the whole spectrum of personality Third, Emotion Regulation represents the cognitive and behavioural strategies adopted to change the emotional trajectories of the self or others (e.g Gross, 2015 ).

The latest theoretical research in EI argues that a combination of tive personality traits and affective cognitive abilities determine the choice and success of our cognitive and behavioural response (emotion regula- tion strategy) during affective events (Hughes & Evans, 2016 , 2018 , see Fig 2.1 ) For example, a Firefighter may or may not be able to correctly identify the fear emotion on the face of a member of the public stand- ing outside a burning house This cognitive ability may then contribute to whether that Firefighter evaluates, and then actions, information that a further individual may be trapped in the house e.g by gathering further information from the fearful individual.

affec-As there have been few published studies exploring the Fire Service text (Scott & Myers, 2005), we now look to the role of emotions and EI for three key components of the Fire Service context: decision-making, risk, and coping The approach adopted here is broad, however where possible, research conducted with emergency response personnel will be highlighted

con-Decision-Making

Decision-making is a complex process influenced by many facets, and

in addition to the wide variety of cognitive biases discussed within the literature (for example see Bornstein and Emler [2001] for biases evident in doctor’s decision-making), emotional experiences can

also lead to many strong biases in judgement (Seo & Barrett, 2007) However, it is a common misconception that emotions are unani-mously harmful for effective decision-making It is indeed true that some specific emotions can sometimes act as barriers to effective decision-making For example, Leith and Baumeister (1996) reported that experiencing frustrated anger can lead to a high-risk high-reward style of decision-making, and it is clear how this self-defeating style could be problematic within the Fire Service where decisions need

to be made quickly, often based on little information and with sible lives at stake However, it is also true that some emotions can facilitate positive decision-making For example, individuals in more pleasant moods show increased flexibility and are more inclusive when approaching a decision, which can then lead to more creative solutions (Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki, 1987; Murray, Sujan, Hirt, & Sujan, 1990)

pos-Certain emotions also seem to affect future predictions; Lerner and Keltner (2000) found that more fearful people made pessimistic judge-ments of the future whereas more angry people made more optimistic future projections Furthermore, research has suggested that those with unpleasant emotions/moods use less information and do not synthesise

it well (Conway & Giannopoulos, 1993) and experience greater culty solving difficult problems (Dobson & Dobson, 1981) compared

diffi-to those without As information gathering is such a vital role diffi-to the Fire Service, these finding suggests likely issues for negativity within active decision-makers such as Incident Commanders

The role of emotions in decision-making is much more complex than a positive–negative dichotomy however For example, Pfister and Böhm (2008) suggest four key types of emotions and the various roles they play for decision-making (see Table 2.1) In addition to type, the strength of emotion experienced is also important Seo and Barrett (2007) demonstrated how stock investors who experienced stronger feelings made superior decisions than those who had less intense feel-ings Furthermore, supporting the importance of greater cognitive ability-based EI, those individuals capable of better differentiation between emotions also made better decisions in the investment simula-tion task

A key component of decision-making, and of work within the Fire Service context, is that of risk (see Chapters 5 7) Risk is highly influ-enced by emotions Generally, negative emotions increase risk aver-sion (Heilman, Crişan, Houser, Miclea, & Miu, 2010) For example, risk aversion increases with sadness whereas loss aversion increases with anger (Campos-Vazquez & Cuilty, 2014) Indeed, Lerner, Small, and Loewenstein (2004) found that participants who were induced to feel sad were more likely to set a lower selling price than those induced to feel neutral This was claimed to be to increase their chances of selling the product faster, and therefore increase short-term mood, and mini-mise risk of regret or other negative emotions despite possible negative circumstances in the future (Anderson, 2003; Gray, 1999)

The link between negative emotions and risk aversion appears to be dependent upon how the task is perceived, and the emotion regula-tion strategy adopted to deal with the emotions For example, fear leads

to risk-averse behaviour in a financial task when framed as an ment decision, whereas it leads to greater risk-taking behaviour when framed as an exciting casino game (Lee & Andrade, 2015) The use of

invest-a cognitive reinvest-apprinvest-aisinvest-al emotion regulinvest-ation strinvest-ategy hinvest-as invest-also been found

to impede the relationship between negative emotion and risk-averse behaviour (Heilman et al., 2010) Indeed, habitual cognitive reappraisal use has been related to increased risk-taking and a decreased sensitivity

Table 2.1 Roles emotions can play for decision-making (Pfister & Böhm, 2008 ) Emotion type Example emotion Role

Reducible emotions Joy, dislike Provide information about

pleasure and pain for erence construction Affect-programmes/drives Disgust, fear Enable rapid choices under

pref-time pressure Complex discrete emotions Regret, envy Focus attention on relevant

aspects of a problem Moral sentiments Guilt, anger Generate commitment

concerning morally and/or socially significant decisions

to changes in probability or loss amount, whereas habitual suppression use was related to decreased risk-taking (Panno, Lauriola, & Figner, 2013).

Ultimately it appears that managing emotions is a method of aging risk However, so much of the literature exploring emotions and risk is based upon experimental studies with low external validity and realism See Chapters 8 and 9 to explore the link between emotion and risk further Fortunately, individuals are more risk-averse when they are put in situations with the possibility of real-life, meaningful, loss (Arkes, Herren, & Isen, 1988) This is likely positive for the fire-service where impatience and risky decision-making could lead to lesser safety and greater casualties

man-Coping

Responding appropriately to stressful situations is essential for ing with difficulties encountered in daily life for us all (Reynaud et al., 2013) In addition to these stressors, being able to cope well with high-risk and extreme events, both at the time and afterwards, is of primary importance for all members of the emergency services It is here that

cop-an appreciation of the role of emotions appear particularly importcop-ant For example, the discrete emotions experienced by Police Officers are predictive of whether any fatigue experienced during work leads to burnout, a key component of which is emotional exhaustion (Basinska, Wiciak, & Dåderman, 2014)

Due to the nature of the work conducted, emergency services sonnel are more susceptible to poor physical and mental health For example, depression, addiction, suicide, sickness, anxiety, anger, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are all common (Dill, 2011; Eriksson, Foy, & Larson, 2004) It has been estimated that due to the range of demanding and persistent occupational stressors, Firefighters die roughly ten years earlier than the general population, predom-inantly down to stress and heart conditions (Couper & Karimi, 2013)

per-The role of Firefighter consists of numerous emotional demands, both chronic and acute, and the ways in which individuals cope with their stressors is of greatest importance (Tuckey & Hayward, 2011) There are a variety of strategies available to regulate one’s emotions, some more preferable than others, however it seems the choice and implementation of strategy is key (Webb, Miles, & Sheeran, 2012) For example, social support appears to be a useful protector against PTSD, however social interactions must be appropriate and positive to realise this impact (Brewin, Andrews, & Valentine, 2000; Lepore, 2001; Ozer, Best, Lipsey, & Weiss, 2003; Prati & Pietrantoni, 2010) Although EI appears to dictate one’s choice of regulation strategy (Hughes & Evans,

2016, 2018), there are various barriers to effective practice For ple, sleep is important to ensure appropriate and effective emotion regu-lation (Hom et al., 2016)

exam-One of the greatest concerns surrounding coping within the Fire Service is PTSD Firefighters are much more susceptible to PTSD symptoms than non-emergency personnel and the general population (Eriksson et al., 2004; Wagner, McFee, & Martin, 2010) For example,

in 1988 the prevalence of PTSD in German firefighters was as high as 18.2% (Wagner, Heinrichs, & Ehlert, 1998) whereas the general public lifetime prevalence is roughly 7.8% (Kessler, Sonnega, Bromet, Hughes,

& Nelson, 1995) Currently estimates fall between 5 and 37% (Del Ben, Scotti, Chen, & Fortson, 2006) It is important to note however that the relationship between experiences of trauma and the develop-ment of PTSD can be interrupted Research by Levy-Gigi et al (2016) suggests emotion regulation flexibility is important, and that if firefight-ers are flexible in their choice of which emotion regulation strategy to enact, they may be less likely to develop PTSD symptoms Emotion regulation is therefore vital for the continuing coping of Fire Personnel, both during the events themselves, and the aftermath Explanations and interventions based upon models of emotion regulation appear to be fruitful avenues of exploration (Webb et al., 2012)

In sum, emotions are highly influential upon risk, decision-making, and coping, and this often appears heightened when making impor-tant real-world decisions as Firefighting personnel often do As under- preparation, acute stress, and ambiguous authority, have been suggested

as three common causes of problematic outcomes in the Fire Service context (Useem, Cook, & Sutton, 2005), greater acknowledgement and understanding of the role of emotions in the work of the Fire Service seems imperative.

The Current Study

Fire personnel are not explicitly recruited based upon emotional bilities, and given the high rate of suicides, heart attacks, and other health-concerns, more is needed to support the affective demands of work in this context Fire personnel are carefully trained in operating procedures, but there appears to be great variability in their emotional demands, capabilities, and responses, and this has far-reaching conse-quences for the whole life of the Firefighter, not just career, in addition

capa-to all those they seek capa-to protect (Carlisle, 1999; Shantz, 2002) The rent chapter aims to review the affect-based literature to determine what

cur-is known, what we can do, and what we need to prioritcur-ise within the future, for this important population

Method

There are many types of literature review, with the quantitative atic literature review widely considered the most robust and valuable (Ball et al., 2001) Systematic literature reviews are designed to ‘collate all relevant evidences that fits pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer

system-a specific resesystem-arch question’ (Moher et system-al., 2015, p 2) system-and should be highly structured searches, with a number of structures and key steps highlighted Quantitative versions often culminate in a meta-analysis PRISMA is the most popular protocol structure, with PRISMA-P as the latest version (see Moher et al., 2015 and Table 2.2 for a brief summary

of the key stages)

The current research asks: What is the current state of ing surrounding the emotional labour associated with working within the Fire Service context, and to what extent have consensuses and

understand-Table 2.2 Stages of a PRISMA-P systematic literature review (Simplified from

Moher et al., 2015 )

Stage Topic Activity

1 Identification Identify the report as a protocol of a

systematic review If this is an update of

a previous review, it should be identified

as such

2 Registration Registration platform and number For

example, if your review is preregistered

on PROSPERO

3 Contact and contribution Name, affiliation, address, email and

con-tribution of authors

4 Amendments If amendment of a previously published

protocol, it should be identified as such with listed changes

5 Support Indicate financial (or other) support,

providing name and roles of funders, sponsors or institutions

6 Rationale Rationale for the review presented in

context of what is already known

7 Objectives Explicit statement of the research

ques-tion, with reference to Participants, Interventions, Comparators and Outcomes (PICO)

8 Eligibility criteria Specify the characteristics to be used as

criteria for eligibility for the review e.g PICO, years, language, etc.

9 Information sources Note all intended information sources

e.g literature databases, with dates of coverage

10 Search strategy Present search strategy with sufficient

detail as to be replicable

11 Study records management Describe the mechanisms used to manage

data, state the process for selecting ies (e.g two independent reviewers) at each phase of the review, and describe planned method of extracting data from reports Also include the process for obtaining/confirming data from researchers

stud-12 Data items List and define all variables for which

data will be sought (e.g PICO items) and any pre-planned data assumptions and simplifications

(continued)

recommendations been established? Due to the broad focus and dearth

of literature expected, the current research question is not suitable for this strict quantitative type of systematic literature review In attempt to provide a more thorough account of the literature than that afforded by narrative reviews, a qualitative systematic literature review was adopted (Green, Johnson, & Adams, 2006) Here, a similar structured approach

to the literature review is provided, but statistical findings are not explored in-depth or combined for further analyses

Literature was searched using the Academic Search Complete and PsycINFO databases For those interested in conducting systematic literature reviews without institutional affiliation, there is some evi-dence to suggest that coverage of literature is just as good using Google Scholar (free to access) as other bibliographic databases and is perhaps more inclusive (Gehanno, Rollin, & Darmoni, 2013) Furthermore,

14 Risk of bias in individual

studies

Describe anticipated methods for ing risk of bias of individual studies, clarify whether at outcome and/or study level, and how this information will be used in data synthesis

assess-15 Synthesis Describe criteria under which study data

will be synthesised If quantitative synthesis is not appropriate the type of summary planned should be detailed If data are appropriate, details are needed for planned summary measures, methods

of handling data and methods of bining data from studies (including any planned exploration of consistency), and any proposed additional analyses.

com-16 Meta-bias(es) Specify any planned assessment of

meta-bias(es) e.g publication bias or selective reporting

17 Confidence in cumulative

evidence

Describe how the strength of the body of evidence will be assessed e.g GRADE

the Google Scholar database has added value in that it now captures pre-prints: articles which have not yet undergone peer-review and/or been formally published.

The search had three inclusion criteria Firstly, the paper had to

be academic (i.e academic journal articles or books) and published between January 1990 and October 2018, as the role of the Fire Service (and thus individuals within it) has changed dramatically since and over this time period (Calo, 2012) Secondly, the paper had to explore the Fire Service context or look at Fire Personnel as a named group of par-ticipants Third, it had to mention and explore emotions in the title, abstract, or be a primary focus of the paper Papers of theoretical and empirical nature were considered equally relevant and included

Using the following search criteria: (emot* AND fire*) OR (feel* AND fire*) OR (emot* AND emergency) OR (feel* AND emergency),

7620 journal articles and 598 books (7299 responses in total with duplicates removed) were logged by the search Of these works, only

149 fulfilled the required criteria A synthesis of the key themes and indicative work extracted are discussed below

Findings

The search terms adopted captured a wide range of literature, broadly focused upon stress, PTSD, emotion regulation, humour, and train-ing/interventions, amongst other themes It is evident from the number

of (mostly irrelevant) papers using fire-based puns or metaphors (e.g

‘fighting fire with fire’, ‘on fire’, ‘into the fire’, etc.) and large numbers

of (relevant) works exploring occupational stress, that firefighting is a fundamentally demanding occupation In-line with the broader litera-ture whereby firefighting is predominantly presented as procedural in focus, the dearth of relevant literature identified suggests there is rela-tively little acknowledgement of the extent or complexity in emotional demands of the role For example, Cohn, Waisel, Carley, and Wallace (1998) explain the emotional experiences of a fire by considering the Incident Command System, the nature of the disaster, and the cooper-ation of the town and local agencies Whilst a general focus on policies

and procedures is positive in giving personnel structure to guide their practice, there does seem to be little understanding of the emotional labour required This section aims to go deeper into the key themes emerging from the available literature to determine the current state of understanding surrounding the emotional labour associated with work-ing within the Fire Service context, and to explore the extent to which consensuses and recommendations have been established.

Distress and Trauma

Based upon the diverse emotional labour requirements of the role, the vast majority of papers identified explored the causes, implications, and management of stress (Larsson, Berglund, & Ohlsson, 2016)

The work extracted has highlighted a number of common affective components of working in the Fire Service The fireground features a number of common emotive cues, including verbal threats from vic-tims, shouts for help or panic displayed by crowds, cry and wailings from trapped victims, and the presence of passers-by (Okoli, Watt, & Weller, 2017) Five of the most distressing stressors include: catastrophic injury to self or co‐worker, gruesome victim incidents, rendering aid

to seriously injured vulnerable victims, minor injury to self, and death

& dying exposure (Beaton, Murphy, Johnson, Pike, & Corneil, 1998) However, distress can occur before, during, or after, incidents (Brooks, Dunn, Amlôt, Greenberg, & Rubin, 2016) Even common activities, such as driving the appliance, can be associated with negative emotional states including aggression, frustration, and annoyance (Gormley, Walsh,

& Fuller, 2008) There is also a need for consideration for the sational facets and context, which may contribute to distress (Brough, 2004; Oosthuizen & Koortzen, 2007), including bullying (Yoder & Aniakudo, 1996), intensive training (Scheel et al., 2012), life-changing decision-making (Scarborough, 2017) with subsequent (post-mortem) inquiries (Regehr, Hill, Goldberg, & Hughes, 2003), and changing work schedules (Caputo et al., 2015; Paley & Tepas, 1994)

organi-Distressing incidents appear to have a number of possible sequences, including increased physical pain complaints (Beaton,

con-Murphy, & Pike, 1996), elevated startle responses (Guthrie & Bryant, 2005), burnout (Lourel, Abdellaoui, Chevaleyre, Paltrier, & Gana, 2008), desensitisation, flashbacks, and irritability (Jahnke, Carlos Poston, Haddock, & Murphy, 2016), post-mortem contact by fatal injury victims (Kelly, 2002), intrusive flashback memories (Kleim, Bingisser, Westphal,

& Bingisser, 2015), and compassion fatigue (Cacciatore, Carlson, Michaelis, Klimek, & Steffan, 2011) The effects of such incidents seem particularly pronounced for those who were first responders to incidents (Garner, Baker, & Hagelgans, 2016) These psychological impacts often continue in spite of the provision of psychological follow-up (Watts & Walkden, 1994) and whilst individual events are impactful, there is also a case for the cumulative psychological toll of repeated exposure to poten-tially traumatic events (Jahnke et al., 2016; Marmar et al., 1999)

Contributing to the quality of firefighter work and life, it is tant that ongoing ‘Effroi’ or ‘psychological terror’ is appropriately man-aged (De Soir, 2012) These strong emotional responses to demanding work are important for performance For example, burnout caused by work stress and work-family conflict was predictive of personal pro-tective equipment compliance, adherence to safety work practices, and safety reporting and communication (Smith, Hughes, DeJoy, & Dyal, 2018) Furthermore, 80% of sampled Pakistan Emergency Service workers felt that their life has been largely affected by the nature of job (Naz, Mahmood, Saleem, & Naseer, 2011)

impor-At an individual level there are a number of personal qualities which appear to influence the relationship between stressors and distress For example, propensities for emotional reactivity and to perceive incidents

as threats have been associated with worse coping outcomes (Marmar, Weiss, Metzler, Ronfeldt, & Foreman, 1996; Oniszczenko, 2014 respec-tively) Firefighters experiencing insecurity, lack of personal control, and alienation, are more likely to develop depression or post-traumatic stress symptoms following trauma (Regehr, Hill, & Glancy, 2000) Emotion regulation will be discussed shortly, however a consistent theme within the coping discourse of Firefighters is that of avoidance, which is typically associated with negative mental health outcomes (Brown, Mulhern, & Joseph, 2002) This possibly explains the counter- intuitive effect of high positivity during distress as problematic

(Basińska & Gruszczyńska, 2017) Further suboptimal coping responses include alcohol and smoking (Murphy, Bond, Beaton, Murphy, & Johnson, 2002), the former of which has been linked to length of ser-vice (Monteiro, Abs, Labres, Maus, & Pioner, 2013).

Positive individual resources include self-efficacy (Regehr, Hill, Knott, & Sault, 2003) and social support (Fullerton, McCarroll, Ursano, & Wright, 1992; Regehr et al., 2003) Given the extreme nature of experiences encountered, hope looks to play an important role in determining the type of coping strategy adopted (i.e whether emotion- or problem-focused; Steffen & Smith, 2013) One particu-larly advantageous coping strategy appears to be moderate exercise Not only does this have positive physical health benefits for the indi-vidual, supporting operational performance, but it also plays a buffer-ing role against stress (Gerber, Kellmann, Hartmann, & Pühse, 2010)

It appears that meaningful engagement with the Fire Service may also impact coping For example, Firefighters who experience personal meaning and presence of meaning report less emotional exhaustion, less depersonalisation (key facets of burnout), and greater accomplishment (Krok, 2016) Furthermore, affective commitment/organisational con-nectedness: holding an emotional connection with the organisation, its activities, values, and stakeholders, is predictive of coping success (Huynh, Xanthopoulou, & Winefield, 2014)

At a group level there are a number of factors that impact coping Leadership and role clarity appear to represent two key facets (Fullerton

et al., 1992; Pedersen, Gjerland, Rund, Ekeberg, & Skogstad, 2016) As

so much work completed within the Fire Service is that of the team, camaraderie has a consistent protective impact upon psychological health (Tuckey & Hayward, 2011) Qualitative research has evidenced the benefits of peer support and importance of the crew for bonding after negative incidents for subsequent coping (Jahnke, Gist, Poston,

& Haddock, 2014) Finally, there are a number of team-level tions which have presented beneficial outcomes For example, initial evaluation of the PHLAME team-level intervention reported benefits for coworker cohesion, personal exercise habits, and coworkers’ healthy behaviours (Elliot et al., 2004)