Search results

This study focuses on Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel and examines the impact of overdose calls for opioids and attitudes of EMS workers towards individuals with substance use disorders on EMS workers' mental well-being while accounting for self-reported sleep and social support.

This cross-sectional study surveyed EMS workers (N = 608) across Pennsylvania on demographic variables, frequency of overdose calls, attitudes towards opioid use and naloxone administration on measures of mental health. Multiple logistic regression models were estimated to examine the relationship of perception of opioid use and treatment and likelihood that EMS workers might experience depression.

Authors found two main findings: (1) There was a significant relationship between more negative perceptions about opioid use/naloxone and the likelihood that EMS workers might experience depression. (2) There was a significant relationship between number of overdose calls EMS workers responded to and likelihood of depression, which appeared to be alleviated by improvements in sleep and social support.

There is potential opportunity for EMS employers to minimize the impact of the opioid epidemic on EMS worker mental health. Trainings to highlight effectiveness of treatment should be further explored, along with ways to enhance social support and improve sleep for EMS workers to protect against the stress associated with responding to this public health crisis.

This study adds to the literature on the impact of the opioid epidemic as it relates to mental health outcomes for EMS professionals providing frontline care to those experiencing opioid use disorders.

Volume 17 of Political Power and Social Theory showcases a collection of first-rate scholarship by historical, political, and economic sociologists who concern themselves with some of the most powerful movements, actors, and institutions of modern society. The papers in this year's volume are grouped around three broad themes that take us back in time to the early 20th century America, extend our analytical scope beyond national borders, and return the reader to the present and a contemporary controversy that has implications for the future of our nation and perhaps even the entire global economy.