Perceptions of Fitness in Career and Volunteer Firefighters

Abstract

Over the past 12–15 years more attention has been given to fire department worksite health and fitness programs. Presently there is a large push in the fire service to increase physical fitness levels of firefighters and to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (IAFF, 2000; NIOSH, 2005). PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to examine firefighter perceptions of fitness. METHODS: Participants (N=104) were a combination of male (n=67) and female (n=37); or career (n=33), volunteer (n=1 8), fire academy candidates (n=42) and wildland (n=11) firefighters who voluntarily agreed to complete the surveys. Perceptions of health-related physical fitness were evaluated using a 5-point Likert scale instrument and a single item question asking “how fit are you? Participants also completed a survey to determine the stage of behavioral change. Data were analyzed using a multivariate analysis based on the original perception survey validated by Abadie (1988). Significant results were followed by univariate and pairwise comparisons and the significance level set at p≤ 0.05. RESULTS: The results of this study demonstrate that overall perceptions of health-related fitness (PFSA) are consistent across gender and position in the fire service and that the two fitness perception instruments (PFSA & PFI combined) were only moderately correlated (r= .72). Significant differences were noted between perceptions of health-related fitness and stage of change (p ≤ 0.014). Pairwise comparisons revealed those in the maintenance stage of change perceived their flexibility to be better than those in both the preparation (p ≤ 0.004) and action stages (p ≤ 0.006), while those in the maintenance stage perceived their muscular condition to be higher (p ≤ 0.008) than only those in the contemplation stage. The between subjects interaction effect of gender and stage of change was only significant for physical condition (p ≤ .020). Forty-six percent of the respondents perceived their fitness level as excellent/good, 28.3% above average, 22.6% were below average/poor, and 2.8% failed to respond to this question. Generally, firefighters perceive their overall fitness (PFI combined) to be above average or better (74.5%), while only 22.6% perceived themselves as below average/poor. CONCLUSION: Generally it can be concluded that perceptions of fitness are consistent across gender and type of position held in the fire service. The majority of firefighters perceive their fitness to be above average.