Emergency medical services personnel’s work capability sets: associations with job demands, job resources, and flourishing at work

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel perform complex and demanding work under challenging conditions while providing essential healthcare services. Understanding the factors that support their flourishing at work is important for their sustainable employability and the functioning of healthcare systems. This study investigated EMS personnel’s work capability sets (enabled and achieved valued work outcomes) and their associations with job demands (emotional demands and work pressure), job resources (autonomy at work and co-worker support), flourishing at work (emotional, psychological, and social well-being), and negative affect. A cross-sectional survey design was used with 197 EMS personnel in South Africa. Participants completed the Job Demands-Resources Questionnaire, the Capability Set for Work Questionnaire, and the Flourishing at Work-Short Form. Correlation analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, latent class analysis, and Bolck-Croon-Hagenaars analyses were conducted. Using knowledge and skills, developing knowledge and skills, and building and maintaining meaningful relationships at work emerged as the strongest work capabilities, whereas earning a good income, involvement in important decisions, and contributing to something valuable were the weakest. Latent class analysis identified three distinct capability sets: a weak capability set (48%), a constrained capability set (30%), and a robust capability set (22%). Emotional demands were negatively associated with work capabilities and flourishing and positively associated with negative affect, whereas work pressure was positively associated with negative affect but not significantly associated with overall work capabilities or flourishing. Job demands did not significantly differentiate the capability sets, whereas autonomy and co-worker support did. EMS personnel in the robust capability set reported greater flourishing and lower negative affect than those in the weak capability set. The findings are consistent with the Sustainable Employability model grounded in the Capability Approach showing that broader capability sets are associated with greater flourishing at work. Strengthening enabling work conditions, particularly autonomy and co-worker support, while attending to demands that may constrain work capabilities, may help create conditions conducive to the realization of valued work outcomes, flourishing, and sustainable employability among EMS personnel.