Exploring the ways in which firefighters understand and experience communicating distress.

"Purpose: Research has highlighted the powerful role peer support can play for firefighters in supporting mental wellbeing. Little is known about the everyday communication around distress between firefighter peers. The current study explored narratives of distress within the fire service to facilitate a better understanding of how firefighters talk about distress with their peers. In gaining an insight into these communications, it was considered that recommendations could be made to further assist firefighters in supporting peer mental wellbeing.Design: This study adopted an explorative qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine active firefighters working within UK fire services. Data was thematically analysed.Findings: Three main themes were constructed through thematic analysis. The first theme discussed ‘Life on the watch’, capturing an essence of the relationships between members of the watch and how firefighters speak about distress with their peers. The second theme of ‘permission’ explored the notion that permission can be promoted through openness and interpreted to encourage firefighters to communicate their distress with peers, whilst also acknowledging the barriers that can oppose this permission and serve to silence these conversations. The third theme discussed within this paper is ‘Let’s fix it’, identifying a problem-solving response to expressions of distress, and thinking about the relational aspects that feed into this.Value: This study provides a helpful insight into how distress is communicated, interpreted and responded to amongst firefighter peers. Possible implications for practice and future research are discussed to consider how firefighters could be further supported in this process.