Organizational Factors and Their Impact on Mental Health in Public Safety Organizations

Abstract

Public safety personnel (PSP), including correctional officers, firefighters, paramedics, and police officers, have higher rates of mental health conditions than other types of workers. This scoping review maps the impact of organizational factors on PSP mental health, reviewing applicable English language primary studies from 2000-2021. JBI methodology for scoping reviews was followed. After screening, 97 primary studies remained for analysis. Police officers (n = 48) were the most frequent population studied. Correctional officers (n = 27) and paramedics (n = 27) were the second most frequently identified population, followed by career firefighters (n = 20). Lack of supervisor support was the most frequently cited negative organizational factor (n = 23), followed by negative workplace culture (n = 21), and lack of co-worker support (n = 14). Co-worker support (n = 10) was the most frequently identified positive organizational factor, followed by supervisor support (n = 8) and positive workplace culture (n = 5). This scoping review is the first to map organizational factors and their impact on PSP mental health across public safety organizations. The results of this review can inform discussions related to organizational factors, and their relationship to operational and personal factors, to assist in considering which factors are the most impactful on mental health, and which are most amenable to change.

Keywords: first responders; occupational health; occupational stress; organizational factors; public safety.

Figure 1

PRISMA flow diagram of search and study selection process [16].