Yonsei Med J.  2020 Feb;61(2):179-185. 10.3349/ymj.2020.61.2.179.

Does Emotional Labor Increase the Risk of Suicidal Ideation among Firefighters?

Affiliations
  • 1Departments of Biostatistics and Computing, Graduate School, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
  • 2Department of Preventive Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea. chang0343@yonsei.ac.kr
  • 3Department of Dental Hygiene, Hanyang Women's University, Seoul, Korea.
  • 4Department of Preventive Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
  • 5Institute of Occupational and Environment Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea.

Abstract

PURPOSE
To investigate whether emotional labor is associated with suicidal ideation in Korean firefighters.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data were obtained from the Firefighter Research: Enhancement of Safety & Health (FRESH) Study, which was designed to investigate the effects of job characteristics on mental and physical health among Korean firefighters. A total of 18101 firefighters were chosen from a nationwide sample. The Korean Emotional Labor Scale (K-ELS) was used to evaluate exposure to emotional labor, which consisted of five sub-factors: emotional demand and regulation, overload and conflict in customer service, emotional disharmony and hurt, organizational surveillance and monitoring, and lack of a supportive and protective system in the organization.
RESULTS
Firefighters who were in the risk group were more likely to experience suicidal ideation than those in the normal group for each of the five sub-scales of emotional labor. The estimated mean values for suicidal ideation in the risk group were significantly higher than those in the normal group: 1.667 (95% CI: 1.344-2.069) for emotional demand and regulation, 1.590 (95% CI: 1.243-2.033) for overload and conflict in customer service, 2.409 (95% CI: 1.954-2.969) for emotional disharmony and hurt, 2.214 (95% CI: 1.832-2.676) for organizational surveillance and monitoring, and 1.665 (95% CI: 1.387-1.999) for lack of a supportive and protective system in the organization.
CONCLUSION
These results suggest that experience and exposure to chronic and excessive emotional labor might play a crucial role in the development of suicidal ideation among firefighters.

Keyword

Emotional labor; suicidal ideation; firefighter

MeSH Terms

Firefighters*
Humans
Suicidal Ideation*

Figure

  • Fig. 1 Recruitment process of the study subjects.


Reference

1. Wharton AS. The affective consequences of service work: managing emotions on the job. Work Occup. 1993; 20:205–232.
2. Kim HJ, Choo J. Emotional labor: links to depression and work-related musculoskeletal disorders in call center workers. Workplace Health Saf. 2017; 65:346–354. PMID: 27895237.
Article
3. Hochschild AR. The managed heart: commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press;2012.
4. Kim GH, Lee HS, Jung SW, Lee JG, Lee JH, Lee KJ, et al. Emotional labor, workplace violence, and depressive symptoms in female bank employees: a questionnaire survey using the K-ELS and K-WVS. Ann Occup Environ Med. 2018; 30:17. PMID: 29564140.
Article
5. Jeung DY, Lee HO, Chung WG, Yoon JH, Koh SB, Back CY, et al. Association of emotional labor, self-efficacy, and type A personality with burnout in Korean dental hygienists. J Korean Med Sci. 2017; 32:1423–1430. PMID: 28776336.
Article
6. Grandey AA. When “the show must go on”: surface acting and deep acting as determinants of emotional exhaustion and peer-rated service delivery. Acad Manage J. 2003; 46:86–96.
Article
7. Kim SY, Chang SJ, Kim HR, Roh JH. A study on the relationship between emotional labor and depressive symptoms among Korean industrial service employees. Korean J Occup Environ Med. 2002; 14:227–235.
Article
8. Galán F, Ríos-Santos JV, Polo J, Rios-Carrasco B, Bullón P. Burnout, depression and suicidal ideation in dental students. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal. 2014; 19:e206–e211. PMID: 24121916.
9. Dyrbye LN, Thomas MR, Massie FS, Power DV, Eacker A, Harper W, et al. Burnout and suicidal ideation among U.S. medical students. Ann Intern Med. 2008; 149:334–341. PMID: 18765703.
Article
10. Cavanagh JT, Carson AJ, Sharpe M, Lawrie SM. Psychological autopsy studies of suicide: a systematic review. Psychol Med. 2003; 33:395–405. PMID: 12701661.
Article
11. World Health Organization. Suicide data. accessed on 2019 June 15. Available at: https://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en/.
12. World Health Organization. Preventing suicide: a global imperative. Geneva: World Health Organization;2014.
13. Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea Suicide Prevention Center. 2018 Suicide prevention white book. Seoul: Korea Suicide Prevention Center;2019.
14. Han SG, Park CS, Jeong YK, Chang HJ, Kim NR. The study of Korean Occupational Index (2012). Seoul: Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education & Training;2012.
15. Chang SJ, Kang HT, Kim SY, Kim IA, Kim JI, Kim HR, et al. Application study of Korean Emotional Labor Scale and Korean Workplace Violence Scale. Ulsan: Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute;2014.
16. Warner P. Poisson regression. J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care. 2015; 41:223–224. PMID: 26106106.
Article
17. Joo KS. A study on emotional labor and organizational commitment among firefighters in Korea. Crisisonomy. 2017; 13:45–54.
Article
18. Cho S, Ryu SI, Lee MK. A study on emotional labor and job satisfaction among firefighters in Korea. Crisisonomy. 2017; 13:153–160.
Article
19. Park CS, Kim JK. The influence of emotional labor at Seoul Management Operations Center on job performance: focusing on the mediating effect of social support. J Korea Saf Manag Sci. 2015; 17:13–25.
20. Kim YJ, Kim JH, Shim GS. The relationship among job stress, emotional labor, resilience and mental health in firefighters. J Korea Converg Soc. 2017; 8:379–389.
21. Ji DH, Choi MS. The comparative study on changes in turnover intention according to the level of burn out and the convergence mediating factors in fire officer. J Korea Soc Computer Inf. 2016; 21:111–117.
Article
22. Smith TD, Hughes K, DeJoy DM, Dyal MA. Assessment of relationships between work stress, work-family conflict, burnout and firefighter safety behavior outcomes. Saf Sci. 2018; 103:287–292.
Article
23. Katsavouni F, Bebetsos E, Malliou P, Beneka A. The relationship between burnout, PTSD symptoms and injuries in firefighters. Occup Med (Lond). 2016; 66:32–37. PMID: 26409054.
Article
24. Boffa JW, Stanley IH, Smith LJ, Mathes BM, Tran JK, Buser SJ, et al. Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and suicide risk in male firefighters: the mediating role of anxiety sensitivity. J Nerv Ment Dis. 2018; 206:179–186. PMID: 29309295.
25. Ashforth BE, Humphrey RH. Emotional labor in service roles: the influence of identity. Acad Manage Rev. 1993; 18:88–115.
Article
26. Kim WB, Rhee KY, Lee GR. Work environment and stress of emotional laborers. Korean J Sociol. 2012; 46:123–149.
27. Smith MJ, Carayon P, Sanders KJ, Lim SY, Legrande D. Employee stress and health complaints in jobs with and without electronic performance monitoring. Appl Ergon. 1992; 23:17–27. PMID: 15676845.
Article
28. Choi SW. Cultural orientation of emotional labor in administrative service organizations: the case of national tax officials. Korean Public Adm Rev. 2012; 46:79–101.
29. Meier KJ, Mastracci SH, Wilson K. Gender and emotional labor in public organizations: an empirical examination of the link to performance. Public Adm Rev. 2006; 66:899–909.
Article
30. Kim SG. An exploratory study on the emotional labor in public sector: focused on street-level bureaucrats in the civil service system. Korean J Local Gov Stud. 2009; 13:51–70.
31. Diefendorff JM, Richard EM, Yang J. Linking emotion regulation strategies to affective events and negative emotions at work. J Vocat Behav. 2008; 73:498–508.
Article
32. Hobfoll SE, Freedy J. Conservation of resources: a general stress theory applied to burnout. In : Schaufeli WB, Maslach C, Marek T, editors. Professional burnout: recent developments in theory and research. Washington DC: Taylor & Francis;1993. p. 115–129.
33. Baumeister RF, Vohs KD, Tice DM. The strength model of self-control. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2007; 16:351–355.
Article
34. Yoon SL, Kim JH. Job-related stress, emotional labor, and depressive symptoms among Korean nurses. J Nurs Scholarsh. 2013; 45:169–176. PMID: 23470274.
Article
35. Brotheridge CM, Grandey AA. Emotional labor and burnout: comparing two perspectives of “people work”. J Vocat Behav. 2002; 60:17–39.
Article
36. Yagil D. The mediating role of engagement and burnout in the relationship between employees' emotion regulation strategies and customer outcomes. Eur J Work Organ Psychol. 2012; 21:150–168.
Article
37. Grandey AA, Fisk GM, Steiner DD. Must “service with a smile” be stressful? The moderating role of personal control for American and French employees. J Appl Psychol. 2005; 90:893–904. PMID: 16162062.
Article
38. Dunnette MD, Hough LM. Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology, Vol. 3. 2nd ed. Palo Alto (CA): Consulting Psychologists Press;1992.
39. Kim MS, Kang JW, Han SS. Emotional labor and work life satisfaction of department store workers: mediating effect of job oppression. J Korean Soc Occup Environ Hyg. 2019; 29:420–429.
Full Text Links
  • YMJ
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr