Date of Award
1-1-2019
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctorate of Education, Ed.D.
College
College of Education
Department
Education
First Advisor
Edward Kim, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Trish Lichau, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Donna Graham, Ph.D.
Abstract
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) employees are the individuals first on scene to care for people who are having the worst day of their lives. But, while they do that job and the hours after leaving that job are the meaningful moments that affect EMS employees. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative case study was to educate EMS senior leaders on the needs of their employees. The research question that guided this study was: How do mental health limitations, leadership interactions, and generational diversity affect the morale of paramedics in public and private emergency medical services? The sample consisted of 16 EMS employees in several departments in the state of Texas that are currently working in communications, air, field, and command divisions. The data collection instruments were surveys, observations, and semistructured interviews. The inductive analysis model was used to analyze data collected. Coding and triangulation was used to identify codes and to collapse all the data to find emergent themes. The key findings of this study is that EMS employees want their senior leadership to adopt a positive leadership style in order to build a positive culture. The participants shared that they feel if senior leadership adjusted their leadership style, provided mental health resources, and understood generational diversity, that the overall morale would be affected in a positive manner.