Rationale: First responder and public safety occupations, including fire, paramedic, police, border services, coast guard, and corrections, carry substantial demands that ripple into family life, impacting the ways in which families can organize their time, roles, and connections to the broader community. These demands accentuate risk factors for diminishing family wellbeing and occupational participation, creating a distinct experience relative to the broader community that has been mostly invisible. Recent years have seen increased prioritization of family-forward approaches as the bidirectional relationship between operational readiness and family wellbeing becomes evident. However, existing research is siloed, US-centric, police-focused, and rarely captures family perspectives directly.
Objective: To develop an evidence-based conceptual framework articulating how first responder families are shaped by occupational lifestyle dimensions.
Method: Using an interpretive/constructivist paradigm, our interdisciplinary team conducted framework analysis to identify occupational lifestyle dimensions in first responder families. Building on the military family contextual framework (mobility, separation, risk), we analyzed findings from three systematic reviews and one narrative review using constant comparative analysis and reflexive discourse across five stages: familiarization, framework identification, indexing, charting, and mapping.
Results: We identified three key lifestyle dimensions that first responder families accommodate: (1) logistics—structural elements like nonstandard schedules that create work-family conflict; (2) risks—physical and psychoemotional hazards amplified by organizational requirements; and (3) identities—complicated social navigation related to occupational group association, creating opportunities for both pride and vulnerability.
Conclusion: This framework enables culturally sensitive care and supports community development approaches. By articulating these unique, dynamic lifestyle dimensions, we’ve catalyzed cross-sector research collaboration for collective impact.