Professional quality of life of Florida emergency dispatchers

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine a baseline level of the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL 5) in emergency dispatchers in the state of Florida, as well as to examine the how it is associated with psychological resilience, perceived coworker support, different types of debriefing, and perceived organizational support.

Design/methodology/approach

This was done through a cross-sectional administration of surveys to emergency telecommunicators and dispatchers in the state of Florida.

Findings

In total, 186 surveys were completed by active emergency dispatch personnel across the state of Florida. The study found that psychological resilience, education, and perceived organizational support were statistically related to professional quality of life in Florida Dispatchers.

Research limitations/implications

There are limitations due to the nature of cross-sectional survey design and due to the sample size. There are also possible issues with the accuracy of self-reported survey answers. The lack of participation from all agencies also hinders generalizability.

Practical implications

This study serves as a reference point for a very under studied emergency service population. There are also implications that psychological resilience development in dispatch personnel would assist in multiple aspects of their professional quality of life.

Originality/value

This is the first study to use the ProQOL 5 on dispatch personnel in Florida. It also displays statistical relationships between factors which dispatch agencies could use to increase employee job satisfaction and potentially reduce turnover.

Citation

Miller, A., Unruh, L., Zhang, N., Liu, X. and Wharton, T. (2017), "Professional quality of life of Florida emergency dispatchers", International Journal of Emergency Services, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 29-39. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJES-01-2017-0001