The Mediating Role of Trauma Coping Self-Efficacy in the Association between Firefighter Coping Self-Efficacy and Secondary Traumatic Stress

Background/Purpose: Firefighters often experience potentially traumatic events and are at higher risk of adverse mental health outcomes such as secondary traumatic stress (STS). Trauma coping self-efficacy (CSE-T), defined as one’s perceived ability to manage trauma-related stressors and demands, and firefighter coping self-efficacy (FFCSE), defined as a firefighter’s perceived ability to manage occupational stressors and demands, may be protective factors within this population. Firefighters’ perceived ability to cope with chronic and extreme stressors is important for recovery and preventing adverse mental health outcomes. However, little is known about the predictive ability of these context specific types of coping self-efficacy on outcomes like secondary traumatic stress among firefighters. This research aims to investigate trauma coping self-efficacy and firefighter coping self-efficacy as predictors of secondary traumatic stress.

Methods: Firefighters from a midwestern fire department were recruited using convenience sampling and responded to a cross-sectional survey. 245 participants provided all demographic and employment information and reported on the 17-item STS Scale (range: 17-54), 20-item FFCSE Scale (range: 20-140), and 9-item CSE-T Scale (range: 9-93). The STS outcome data were right skewed, and the lower and upper 5% of cases (n = 24) based on the STS variable were removed to approximate normality, resulting in an analytic sample of 221 participants. Hierarchical linear regression was done to test the focal relationships between STS outcomes and FFCSE and CSE-T as predictors. The first two steps controlled for demographic (Model 1) and employment characteristics (Model 2). Steps 3 and 4 included FFCSE (Model 3) and CSE-T (Model 4) to assess the focal relationships.

Results: On the STS outcome (M = 29.82), 48% reported little to no symptoms, 28.5% reported mild symptoms, 11.8% reported moderate symptoms, and 5.9% reported severe symptoms. On the CSE-T outcome (M = 52.20), 25% scored 47 or lower, 50% scored 54 or lower, and 75% scored 61 or lower. On the FFCSE outcome (M = 122.91), 25% scored 116 or lower, 50% scored 127 or lower, and 75% scored 135 or lower. FFCSE had a statistically significant and negative association with STS after controlling for demographic and work characteristics (B = -0.26, p < .001), such that individuals with higher levels of FFCSE reported lower levels of STS. Mediational analysis further showed CSE-T fully mediated the association between FFCSE and STS (indirect effect = -0.26, p < .001).

Implications: Firefighter coping self-efficacy significantly predicted secondary traumatic stress; however, trauma coping self-efficacy appears to fully account for its influence on secondary traumatic stress among firefighters. The ability to cope with severe trauma exposure may be more salient than the ability to cope with routine occupational stressors within this population. Intervention strategies may consider supporting firefighters’ perceived ability to cope with potentially traumatic events to promote recovery and minimize secondary traumatic stress symptomology. More knowledge is needed on the utility of the FFCSE Scale as a measure of occupational well-being, and future research may develop evidence toward this measure’s validity through an exploration of the latent factor(s) underlying firefighter coping self-efficacy and trauma coping self-efficacy.