Development and psychometric evaluation of a new instrument for firefighter’s occupational resilience assessment: An exploratory mixed-methods study

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Increasing firefighters’ occupational resilience promotes their safety and safe performance in hazards. Despite its significance, no instrument has so far been developed to assess firefighters’ occupational resilience. The present study, therefore, aimed to design such an instrument. Material and methods: Firefighter’s occupational resilience indicators were first extracted through a systematic review and a qualitative study to develop the preliminary items. The face and content validity of the items were then examined. The remaining items underwent an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), test-retest reliability, and finally a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results: After content validity, 49 out of the 94 preliminary items were assessed in terms of construct validity. EFA and rotation revealed that five factors explained 42.477% of the total variance of the questionnaire. The 42 items were categorized into five domains of self-efficacy (20 items), legality (7 items), organizational trust (6 items), self-regulation (5 items), and job satisfaction (4 items). The instrument was finalized with a CFA of the final model and test-retest reliability assessment. Conclusion: All the personal, organizational, and environmental aspects related to firefighters must be considered for resilience evaluation. This instrument can facilitate firefighters’ resilience assessment. With the outcome of this instrument, firefighters and fire department managers can identify weaknesses, strengths, and assess the effectiveness of interventions to improve firefighters’ occupational resilience.