Developing a Firefighter Occupational Health Questionnaire Using Focus Groups: The FORWARD Study

Details

• Personal Author:
  Baker, Dean B. ; Choi B ; Dobson M ; Garcia J ; Israel L ; Landsbergis P ; Schnall P ; Wigger E
• Description:
  Background and Objective: Firefighters (FF) are frequently obese and are at high risk for CVD. Few validated instruments are available that assess the unique working conditions and health behaviors of firefighters who work on a 24 hr-shift system. Our goal was to develop an occupational health questionnaire informed by focus groups of FF's for use in a study of obesity among firefighters. Methods: The research team prepared an initial questionnaire for FF's including domains and items about working conditions informed by a literature review and used in a preliminary web-survey. Four focus groups (2 of firefighters and engineers, 1 of captains, and 1 of battalion chiefs) were conducted. The FF's were asked to review the domains and items in the initial questionnaire in terms of relevance to their work experiences, clarity of wording, and missing domains or questionnaire items. Results: 21 firefighters participated in the focus groups. Across the focus groups, five domains appeared to be most relevant: workload (e.g., # of shifts), job demands, quality of leadership, sleep problems, and eating culture at work and two domains appeared to be least relevant: reward and discrimination/harassment. Focus group members pointed out that the wording of several items was unclear and alternative wording was suggested (e.g., substitute "company" for "group"). Conclusion: The focus groups pointed to the possibility of significant differences in the interpretation of items among groups particularly by job title. Focus groups proved to be a very effective method for developing a firefighter occupational health questionnaire. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Firefighters Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Obesity Behavior Patterns Fire Fighters Obesity Questionnaires Risk Factors
• Publisher:
  American Public Health Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  California ; New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20056201
• Citation:
  APHA 139th Annual Meeting and Exposition, October 29 - November 2, 2011, Washington, D.C. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, 2011 Nov; :250015
• Contact Point Address:
  BongKyoo Choi, University of California Irvine, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, 5201 California Ave. Suite 100, Irvine, CA USA 92617
• Email:
  b.choi@uci.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• NORA Priority Area:
  Public Safety
• Performing Organization:
  University of California - Irvine
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20100901
• Source Full Name:
  APHA 139th Annual Meeting and Exposition, October 29 - November 2, 2011, Washington, D.C
• End Date:
  20130831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6d1c9daaeb47573416a60eb6ba0620a551c1e0df91ec6c86a310e7ed7ef0487a6881a1a6522d773e840e85fc8e75fd7e99c5234417d4fa24b59ebce2ad6b1603
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/213855/cdc_213855_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 55.25 KB ]