American journal of industrial medicine
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The goal of this paper is to investigate the respective influence of work characteristics, the effort-reward ratio, and overcommitment on the poor mental health of out-of-hospital care providers. ⋯ Emergency medical services should pay attention to the way employees perceive their efforts and the rewarding aspects of their work: an imbalance of those aspects is associated with poor mental health. Low perceived esteem appeared particularly associated with poor mental health. This suggests that supervisors of emergency medical services should enhance the value of their employees' work. Employees with overcommitment should also receive appropriate consideration. Preventive measures should target individual perceptions of effort and reward in order to improve mental health in prehospital care providers.