The Sources of Occupational Stress and Coping Strategies among Emergency Workers in Sabah, Malaysia

The purpose of this paper is to identify the sources of occupational stress and coping strategies in dealing with stress among emergency workers. A total of 348 emergency workers (firefighters, police, and military personnel) were involved in the study. The study used a set of questionnaire survey and area sampling design. The questionnaire comprises: The Sources of Occupational Stress (SOOS), Coping Oriented to Problem Experienced (COPE), and the Psychological Health Questionnaire (PHQ). The result of the study indicated that the sources of occupational stress have significant positive correlations with job stress. The study also found that the relationship between the sources of stress and coping strategies were significantly positively related. The relationship between the sources of stress and the psychological well-being also showed a significant positive correlation. These findings provide some implications for the human resource department of the emergency workers to establish a counseling unit in order to deal with psychological problem faced by the emergency workers