Perceptions of Work-related Health and Cancer Risks among Women Firefighters: A Qualitative Study

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Occup Environ Med
• Personal Author:
  Solle, Natasha Schaefer ; Santiago, Katerina M. ; Feliciano, Paola Louzado ; Calkins, Miriam M. ; Fent, Kenny ; Jahnke, Sara ; Parks, Natasha ; Buren, Heather ; Grant, Casey ; Burgess, Jefferey L. ; Caban-Martinez, Alberto J. ; Solle, Natasha Schaefer ; Santiago, Katerina M. ; Feliciano, Paola Louzado ; Calkins, Miriam M. ; Fent, Kenny ; Jahnke, Sara ; Parks, Natasha ; Buren, Heather ; Grant, Casey ; Burgess, Jefferey L. ; Caban-Martinez, Alberto J.
• Description:
  Objectives:
  
  We use a qualitative method to gain further insight into women firefighters’ experiences, perceptions of cancer, health and safety risks in the fire service.
  
  Methods:
  
  We conducted six focus groups with U.S. women firefighters. Participants engaged in a 60–75-minute, semi-structured discussion and completed a sociodemographic questionnaire. A qualitative descriptive approach was used to inductively create themes. Data collection concluded when saturation was met.
  
  Results:
  
  Forty-nine women firefighters participated. Qualitative results indicated the main health concerns include: Occupational cancer risks including, risks related to hazardous exposures, sleep disruption and stress; and Women’s health concerns including, cancer, pregnancy and breastfeeding and lack of resources.
  
  Conclusions:
  
  Women firefighters are concerned about their risk for cancer due to their occupation and identify a lack of resources specific to health and safety needs of women firefighters.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Female Firefighters Focus Groups Humans Neoplasms Qualitative Research Women's Health
• Source:
  J Occup Environ Med. 63(12):e846-e852 ; J Occup Environ Med. 63(12):e846-e852
• Pubmed ID:
  34538836
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC8814999
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  63
• Issue:
  12
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:ee10afdb383a628b4f0a6d51810c46b7538ddb5b884d2db14f5308a834dd3ca5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/114125/cdc_114125_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 225.52 KB ]