Impact of Stress Management Training on the Quality of Life and Occupational Burnout of the Emergency Services Personnel

Background and Objectives: This research aimed to investigate the extent to which stress management training may improve the quality of life (QOL) and occupational burnout (OB) of the operational personnel at emergency services.Methods: A semi-experimental pretest-posttest study was conducted. The study population includes the operational personnel of Tehran’s 115 emergency services. SF-36 questionnaire Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was administered to a sample of 200 personnel followed by selecting 40 individuals with lowest scores. The participants were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The intervention group participated in eight sessions of stress management training. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance. The changes in scores of SF-36 questionnaire and MBI after the implementation of the training program was evaluated and compared with the those of the control group.Findings: Stress management training led to a significant improvement in the QoL and a significant reduction in the OB of the personnel in the intervention group as compared with the control group (P < 0.001).Conclusions: Our results recommend the implementation of in-service stress management training programs by the organization followed by regular relevant evaluations to monitor the results in work and personal life, in order to improve the emergency services human resources performance.