Paramedic perspectives on workplace peer support: a thematic analysis.

Sleep health notes

Sleep health notes will be added by the Sleepatch editorial team.

中文解读

中文解读待补充：本站会优先为失眠研究、睡眠质量改善、昼夜节律等高价值睡眠研究添加中文说明。

Original abstract

<h4>Purpose</h4>Trauma exposure and workplace psychosocial hazards can negatively impact paramedics' mental health. Peer support programs are increasingly deployed, but evidence regarding their use in this context is limited. This qualitative study explored paramedics' experiences with peer support.<h4>Methods</h4>Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 paramedics, from a single Australian ambulance service, who had recently (<12 months) engaged with peer support. Interviews explored support needs, helpful and unhelpful program elements, and program outcomes. Transcripts were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.<h4>Results</h4>Four main themes were developed. First, participants described the needs, shaped by occupational demands, underlying peer support use, including processing traumatic exposures, clinical debriefing, managing work-life intersections, and to substitute other supports. Second, proactive peer contact helped overcome barriers to self-referral, identify at-risk paramedics and foster organisational support. Third, that practical and emotional benefits were underpinned by shared understanding. Fourth, that meaningful support depended on complementary peer-paramedic characteristics.<h4>Conclusions</h4>These findings highlight the importance of proactive peer outreach in paramedic services, suggest the need to explore informal clinical debriefing within peer support, and refine peer-paramedic matching to facilitate benefits. Future research should evaluate tailored peer-support models and assess their impact on program engagement, and paramedic mental health outcomes.

Links and sources

• Official / arXiv page

Comments