Social Prestige of the Paramedic Profession

Anita Majchrowska, Jakub Pawlikowski, Mariusz Jojczuk, Adam Nogalski, Renata Bogusz, Luiza Nowakowska and Michał Wiechetek
Additional contact information
Anita Majchrowska: Department of Humanities and Social Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, 7 Chodźki Str., 20-093 Lublin, Poland
Jakub Pawlikowski: Department of Humanities and Social Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, 7 Chodźki Str., 20-093 Lublin, Poland
Mariusz Jojczuk: Department of Trauma Surgery and Emergency Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, 11 Staszica Str., 20-081 Lublin, Poland
Adam Nogalski: Department of Trauma Surgery and Emergency Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, 11 Staszica Str., 20-081 Lublin, Poland
Renata Bogusz: Department of Humanities and Social Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, 7 Chodźki Str., 20-093 Lublin, Poland
Luiza Nowakowska: Department of Humanities and Social Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, 7 Chodźki Str., 20-093 Lublin, Poland
Michał Wiechetek: Faculty of Psychology, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, 14 Racławickie Av., 20-950 Lublin, Poland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 4, 1-10

Abstract: Background: There is a lack of research on social image, prestige, and the position of the paramedic profession in the social structure. The main objective of the study was to determine the place of the paramedic profession in the hierarchy of prestige of professions as viewed by the public. In operationalizing the term ‘prestige’, we deemed the word ‘respect’ to best fit the sense of the subjective evaluation of prestige with regard to a profession. Material and methods: The data comes from cross-sectional survey-based research. The research was carried out on a group of 600 people over 18 years of age. The sample was of a random nature, and the selection of respondents was calculated on the basis of them being representative of the Polish population. Results: The median of respect declared for the paramedic profession, on a scale of 1 to 5, was 4.49, which placed the profession in fourth place in the ranking. The assessment of respect for paramedics among other medical professions placed them in third place, directly after doctors and midwifes. Conclusions: The profession of paramedic is characterized by high social prestige, locating it at the forefront of the medical profession and other examined professions, but its social position, expressed by objective measures (earnings, structural possibilities, social power), is significantly lower.

Keywords: paramedics; social prestige; respect for profession (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1506/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1506/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:1506-:d:493888

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().