Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Oct 27;19(21):13993.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph192113993.

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

Megan Edgelow  1 , Emma Scholefield  1 , Matthew McPherson  1 , Kathleen Legassick  1 , Jessica Novecosky  1
Affiliations
Review

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

Megan Edgelow et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

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.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram of search and study selection process [16].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Di Nota P.M., Kasurak E., Bahji A., Groll D., Anderson G.S. Coping among public safety personnel: A systematic review and meta–analysis. Stress Health. 2021;37:613–630. doi: 10.1002/smi.3039. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gray S.E., Collie A. The nature and burden of occupational injury among first responder occupations: A retrospective cohort study in Australian workers. Injury. 2017;48:2470–2477. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2017.09.019. - DOI - PubMed
    1. CIPSRT Glossary of Terms: A Shared Understanding of the Common Terms Used to Describe Psychological Trauma (Version 2.1) [(accessed on 13 October 2022)]. Available online: https://www.cipsrt-icrtsp.ca/en/resources/glossary-of-terms.
    1. Carleton R., Afifi T.O., Turner S., Taillieu T., Duranceau S., LeBouthillier D.M., Sareen J., Ricciardelli R., MacPhee R.S., Groll D., et al. Mental disorder symptoms among public safety personnel in Canada. Can. J. Psychiatry. 2018;63:54–64. doi: 10.1177/0706743717723825. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Carleton R.N., Afifi T.O., Taillieu T., Turner S., Mason J.E., Ricciardelli R., McCreary D.R., Vaughan A.D., Anderson G.S., Krakauer R.L., et al. Assessing the relative impact of diverse stressors among public safety personnel. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2020;17:1234. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17041234. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types