Health Behaviours in the Ambulance Worker Population

Introduction: There is an increasing awareness that health behaviours, which form a part of our lifestyle, have a significant impact on our emotional and physical wellbeing. Ambulance workers are at an increased risk of poorer health outcomes. This poses the question whether lifestyle could play a role in emotional and physical health outcomes, which is understudied in this population, thus this paper reviews health behaviours in this population and assess the impact that this may have on their emotional and physical wellbeing. Methodology: PRISMA Guidelines were adhered to, seven online bibliographic databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsychARTICLES, PsychINFO, Web of Science, PUBMED and Google Scholar) and reference lists of eligible articles were searched. Papers were systematically extracted and selected by title, then by abstract utilising specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. Findings: The papers included in this review (n= 6) represent a range lifestyle factors (physical activity, smoking, alcohol use and sleep) that potentially impact wellbeing outcomes (weight/body mass index and post-traumatic stress symptoms) of ambulance workers across the western world. Various limitations are discussed in light of the findings of this review. Conclusion: Ambulance workers engage in negative health behaviours which have some bearing on their emotional and physical wellbeing. Suggestions for further research and practitioner recommendations are made in order to ameliorate the effect