Investigating the association between received support and perceived support: a cross-sectional study among 389 Danish ambulance personnel

BACKGROUND: Ambulance personnel are routinely exposed to emotionally demanding and high-stress situations, making adequate support initiatives crucial for their mental health. Previous research suggests that ambulance workers' subjective experience of perceived support is more strongly associated with mental health outcomes than measures of specific types of support. However, the relationship between specific types of received support and the overall perception of receiving support remains unclear. This study investigates how different types of support and the overall amount of support types used are associated with perceived support among ambulance personnel. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study of 389 ambulance personnel, regression analyses were applied to examine the associations between six types of received support and perceived support. We adjusted for covariables and support outside work. Additionally, a generalised linear model was used to assess the association between the total number of support types used and perceived support. RESULTS: This study demonstrates that four specific types of received support (debriefing/defusing, formal peer support, informal managerial support and informal collegial support) were significantly positively associated with perceived support among ambulance personnel (debriefing/defusing: B=2.44, SE=0.77, t=2.80, 95% CI 0.90 to 3.90; formal peer support: B=2.35, SE=1.19, t=1.83, 95% CI 0.02 to 4.67; informal managerial support: B=2.08, SE=0.80, t=2.54, 95% CI 0.48 to 3.59; informal collegial support: B=4.21, SE=1.90, t=2.87, 95% CI 0.47 to 7.83). Additionally, the number of support types used was associated with higher levels of perceived support. CONCLUSION: These findings highlight the need for a multifaceted support strategy, focusing on both specific support types as well as availability of several parallel support initiatives, in organisational prevention strategies.