Occupational stress and depression in military firefighters
International Journal of Development Research
Occupational stress and depression in military firefighters
Received 29th August 2017; Received in revised form 15th September, 2017; Accepted 10th October, 2017; Published online 29th November, 2017
Copyright ©2017, Marcelo Sampaio Ocampos et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Firefighters are susceptible to depression because at work they constantly face situations involving human suffering. Objective: To study occupational stressors and the occurrence of symptoms suggestive of depression. Materials and Methods: Cross sectional study with 181 firefighters of Mato Grosso do Sul – Brazil. The instruments were used: Work Stress Scale, Beck Depression Inventory and a Social Demographic Questionnaire. Results: 52.5% of the firefighters were classified in the high and moderate levels of occupational stress. The prevalence of depression was 13.3%, in the mild and moderate depression levels. Prevalence of symptomatology suggestive of depression is approximately three and a half times higher in unsatisfied firefighters compared to satisfied workers (p=0.050), and four times higher in firemen with high or moderate stress compared to professionals with mild stress (p=0.014). Conclusion: Job dissatisfaction and occupational stress increase the prevalence of symptoms suggestive of depression in firefighters. It is necessary to improve the working environment to reduce these problems.
