Outcomes of a leadership intervention for a metropolitan fire department.
Poor leadership can contribute to job dissatisfaction and employees' "burnout." Perceived lack of leadership skills is also a source of stress for supervisors. This study evaluated the efficacy of a brief multicomponent leadership intervention provided for fire service supervisors in an urban fire department. Ratings by 51 line firefighters and 8 first-line supervisors documented improvements in their immediate supervisors' performance at 3 mo. postintervention. Self-reports by line firefighters also showed improvements in perceptions of their ability to attain career goals, which were sustained at 9 mo. postintervention. There were also improvements on certain stress related symptoms indices reported by the sample of firefighter supervisors at both the 3-mo. and 9-mo. follow-ups. No significant changes on any of these measures, obtained at comparable time points, were observed in a (nonequivalent) control sample of firefighters and their first-line supervisors in an "untreated" urban fire department.
Beaton
R
R
Department of Psychosocial and Community Health, School of Nursing University of Washington, Seattle 98195-7263, USA.
Johnson
L C
LC
Infield
S
S
Ollis
T
T
Bond
G
G
D000328:Adult; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005390:Fires; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017751:Safety Management