Subjective well-being of employees in the emergency services with different work-related behavior and experience patterns

Abstract

Background: In the emergency services (RD) mental stress is particularly prevalent in everyday work. Well-being is an important parameter for a comprehensive view of mental health and for recognizing health impairments caused by work-related stress. In this survey, connections between subjective well-being and the work-related behavior and experience patterns were examined. The aim was to identify areas of intervention for health promotion and to make a contribution to primary prevention in RD. Methods: In an online survey 508 task forces in the RD were interviewed. The mean age of the study participants was 32.8 ± 9.16 years. With the help of the work-related behavior and experience pattern (AVEM) questionnaire 381 of the volunteers could be assigned to 1 of the 4 AVEM patterns (A, B, G and S) and 127 (25.5%) to no pattern. Based on this classification, differences in the level of well-being were analyzed using the WHO‑5 questionnaire. Results: In the total sample more than 83.9% (n = 426) of the respondents had a good subjective well-being; however, significant differences between the subjective well-being of the 4 AVEM patterns could be demonstrated. In particular, test persons with the health-promoting pattern G reported significantly better well-being than those questioned with the health-impairing pattern characteristics (B and A). Personal characteristics such as age and years of service did not show any significant correlation with well-being. Discussion: There were positive results for the sample in the RD with respect to well-being. When examining the connections between subjective well-being and the AVEM pattern characteristics of the persons interviewed there were clear areas of intervention for health promotion in risk patterns A and B.