Associations of Secondary Traumatic Stress and Emotional Labor with Suicidal Ideation Among Emergency Dispatch Personnel in South Korea: A Cross-Sectional Moderated Mediation Analysis

Background: Emergency dispatch personnel are repeatedly exposed to callers’ distress and emotionally demanding interactions, yet suicidal ideation in this workforce remains understudied. This study examined associations of secondary traumatic stress (STS) and emotional labor with suicidal ideation, including indirect associations through depression and conditional associations involving social support. Methods: A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted among 211 fire-service personnel assigned to emergency dispatch centers in Busan and Gyeongnam, South Korea. Data were analyzed using Hayes’ PROCESS macro Model 59 with HC3 standard errors and 5000 bootstrap resamples. Results: Social support moderated the associations of STS with depression and suicidal ideation and the association of depression with suicidal ideation. The conditional indirect association of STS with suicidal ideation through depression decreased across low, mean, and high social support (0.191, 0.076, and 0.013). For emotional labor, the emotional labor × social support interaction was significant in the depression model, and its association with depression and indirect association with suicidal ideation through depression were supported at low and mean, but not high, social support. Conclusions: STS and depression were associated with suicidal ideation, and the indirect association of STS through depression was weaker at higher social support. However, moderation findings involving suicidal ideation should be interpreted cautiously because the corresponding interaction terms were not statistically significant in the Tobit sensitivity analysis.