Mordaunt, Alexis (2017) Occupational Stressors, Sleep Problems, and Mental Health Among Emergency Service Professionals. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Emergency service professionals (ESPs) experience unique occupational stressors in the commission of their duties. Research shows ESPs are vulnerable to developing work-related mental illness, particularly depression and anxiety. Despite this being a problem, research examining associations between occupational stressors and depression and anxiety for ESPs is lacking, with even less research exploring how other factors like sleep problems may influence these relationships. ESPs are known to report poor sleep. Sleep problems are associated with increased perception of stressors and poorer mental health. This study investigated how sleep problems interact with occupational stressors to influence depression and anxiety for ESPs. The archival data of 141 participants was extracted from a crosssectional study dataset to analyse the levels of, and associations between, occupational stressors, sleep problems, depression, and anxiety outcomes. In a novel approach, occupational stressors were conceptualised as operational and organisational stressors. Results revealed occupational stressors and sleep problems independently predicted depression and anxiety. Sleep problems moderated the effect of occupational stressors on depression, but not anxiety. For those with depression, sleepiness may increase perception of job demands as stressors. Anxiety symptoms (physiological arousal) may inhibit the perception of sleepiness, despite the presence of sleep problems.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Sonja March; Renee Ireland |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Aug 2025 00:58 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Aug 2025 00:58 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Emergency Service Professionals, occupational stress, anxiety, depression, sleep problems |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52590 |
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