title: Stress and coping in wildland firefighting dispatchers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To gain a better understanding of the stressors faced by wildland firefighting dispatchers and how they cope with it.
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative method of phenomenology.
  
  
  METHODS
  Dispatch centers around the western United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were recruited via e-mail solicitation. Only currently employed wildland firefighting dispatchers with extensive dispatching experience were selected. Dispatchers included in this study were employed at the local (3), geographic (4), or national level (4). Eleven dispatchers in total were interviewed, six females and five males. Average experience level as a dispatcher was 14.2 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  In-person interviews.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three broad categories of stressors were revealed: balancing personal and professional lives, contending with job-related issues, and dealing with issues related to control. Four coping strategies also emerged: taking time off, exercising, providing a service to firefighters, and receiving support from others.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In general, a complex and at times even a paradoxical relationship between the dispatchers interviewed and stress was noted. In other words, while subjects felt that the stressors experienced as a dispatcher had the ability to negatively affect their performance, they also believed that stress was beneficial at times. Future research is recommended to further our understanding of workplace stressors for wildland fire dispatchers, and how they cope with them.
authors: Associate Professor, Department of Health and Human Performance, The University of Montana, Missoula, Montana.
authors: Charles G
authors: CG
authors: Palmer
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D061388:Firefighters / Q000523:psychology*; D005390:Fires; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States