PhD defence L. (Lisa) van Reemst

This dissertation studied the relationship between emergency responders’ personal characteristics and exposure to aggression by citizens.58 Three occupational groups were included in the study: emergency medical workers, firefighters and police officers. Workers in these groups are relatively frequently exposed to aggression of citizens, which can be damaging to employees, organisations and society in general. Previous research about the nature and extent of workplace aggression among emergency responders showed that some employees are exposed to workplace aggression relatively often, and others relatively little. This unequal distribution is also visible within specific occupational groups. To address exposure to workplace aggression effectively in prevention and aftercare measures, knowledge about correlates of exposure to aggression is needed. Existing studies about exposure to workplace aggression among emergency responders have mainly offered insight into situational correlates, such as how often employees are in contact with citizens. These appeared to explain exposure to workplace aggression only to a relatively small extent. In contrast, psychological correlates have been understudied, and it is unknown to which extent they add to the explanation. In addition, limited insight has been provided in the direction of the relationship between characteristics and exposure to aggression (do characteristics predict exposure to aggression, does exposure to aggression predict characteristics, or both), and limited insight has been offered in the differences between occupational groups. The studies in this dissertation tried to address these limitations of the existing literature.

The public defence will take place at the Senatehall, 1st floor of the Erasmus Building, Campus Woudestein. The ceremony will begin exactly at 15.30 hrs. In light of the solemn nature of the ceremony, we recommend that you do not take children under the age of 6 to the first part of the ceremony.