Journal ArticleDOI
Exposures to potentially traumatic events among public safety personnel in Canada.
R. Nicholas Carleton,Tracie O. Afifi,Tamara Taillieu,Sarah Turner,Rachel L. Krakauer,Gregory S. Anderson,Renée S. MacPhee,Rosemary Ricciardelli,Heidi Cramm,Dianne Groll,Donald R. McCreary +10 more
TLDR
In this paper, the authors quantified estimates for diverse event exposures within and between several categories of public safety personnel, including dispatchers, firefighters, municipal/provincial police, paramedics, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police.Abstract:
Canadian Public Safety Personnel (e.g., correctional workers, dispatchers, firefighters, paramedics, and police) are regularly exposed to potentially traumatic events, some of which are highlighted as critical incidents warranting additional resources. Unfortunately, available Canadian public safety personnel data measuring associations between potentially traumatic events and mental health remains sparse. The current research quantifies estimates for diverse event exposures within and between several categories of public safety personnel. Participants were 4,441 public safety personnel (31.7% women) in 1 of 6 categories (i.e., dispatchers, correctional workers, firefighters, municipal/provincial police, paramedics, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police). Participants reported exposures to diverse events including sudden violent (93.8%) or accidental deaths (93.7%), serious transportation accidents (93.2%), and physical assaults (90.6%), often 11+ times per event. There were significant relationships between potentially traumatic event exposures and all mental disorders. Sudden violent death and severe human suffering appeared particularly related to mental disorder symptoms, and therein potentially defensible as critical incidents. The current results offer initial evidence that (a) potentially traumatic event exposures are diverse and frequent among diverse Canadian public safety personnel; (b) many different types of exposure can be associated with mental disorders; (c) event exposures are associated with diverse mental disorders, including but not limited to posttraumatic stress disorder, and mental disorder screens would be substantially reduced in the absence of exposures; and (d) population attributable fractions indicated a substantial reduction in positive mental disorder screens (i.e., between 29.0 and 79.5%) if all traumatic event exposures were eliminated among Canadian public safety personnel. Le personnel de sécurité publique canadien (p. ex. les travailleurs des services correctionnels, les répartiteurs, les ambulanciers et les policiers) sont régulièrement exposés à des événements au potentiel traumatique, certains desquels sont présentés comme des événements critiques justifiant le recours à des ressources additionnelles. Malheureusement, les données disponibles concernant le personnel de sécurité publique canadien qui permettraient de mesurer les associations entre les événements au potentiel traumatique et la santé mentale se font encore rares. La recherche actuelle quantifie les estimations liées à l’exposition à divers incidents parmi plusieurs catégories de personnel de sécurité publique. Au total, 4 441 membres du personnel de sécurité publique (dont 31,7 % de femmes) de six catégories différentes (répartiteurs, travailleurs des services correctionnels, pompiers, policiers municipaux/provinciaux, ambulanciers et agents de la Gendarmerie royale canadienne) ont pris part à l’étude. Parmi les événements rapportés par les participants, notons des morts violentes subites (93,8 %) ou accidentelles (93,7 %), des accidents de la route graves (93,2 %) et des agressions physiques (90,6 %). Souvent, les participants s’étaient retrouvés confrontés 11 fois ou plus à de tels événements. Des relations déterminantes ont été observées entre l’exposition à des événements traumatisants et l’ensemble des troubles mentaux. Les morts violentes subites et la souffrance humaine aiguë semblaient particulièrement reliées aux symptômes de trouble mental. Il était donc justifié de les considérer comme des incidents critiques. Les résultats actuels permettent d’entrée de jeu de conclure que (a) les expositions à des événements au potentiel traumatique sont diversifiées et fréquentes parmi l’ensemble du personnel de sécurité publique; (b) de nombreux types d’expositions peuvent être associés à divers troubles de santé mentale, notamment le trouble de stress post-traumatique, et les tests de dépistage de troubles mentaux seraient considérablement réduits en l’absence d’exposition; et (d) les fractions étiologiques du risque indiquaient une réduction substantielle des résultats positifs aux tests de dépistage de troubles mentaux (soit entre 29,0 % et 79,5 %) si toutes les expositions à des événements traumatisants étaient éliminées chez le personnel de sécurité publique canadien.read more
Citations
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Iconography : The Patient Health Questionnaire Somatic, Anxiety, and Depressive Symptom Scales: a systematic review
TL;DR: ThePHQ-9, GAD-7 and PHQ-15 are brief well-validated measures for detecting and monitoring depression, anxiety and somatization.
Journal ArticleDOI
Assessing the Relative Impact of Diverse Stressors among Public Safety Personnel
R. Nicholas Carleton,Tracie O. Afifi,Tamara Taillieu,Sarah Turner,Julia E. Mason,Rosemary Ricciardelli,Donald R. McCreary,Adam D. Vaughan,Gregory S. Anderson,Rachel L. Krakauer,Elizabeth A. Donnelly,Ronald D. Camp,Dianne Groll,Heidi Cramm,Renée S. MacPhee,Curt T. Griffiths +15 more
TL;DR: PPTEs may be inevitable for PSP and are related to mental health; however, leadership style, organizational engagement, stigma, sleep, and social environment are modifiable variables that appear significantly related tomental health.
Journal ArticleDOI
Mental health training, attitudes toward support, and screening positive for mental disorders
R. Nicholas Carleton,Tracie O. Afifi,Sarah Turner,Tamara Taillieu,Adam D. Vaughan,Gregory S. Anderson,Rosemary Ricciardelli,Renée S. MacPhee,Heidi Cramm,Stephen Czarnuch,Kadie Hozempa,Ronald D. Camp +11 more
TL;DR: Revisions to training programs may improve willingness to access professional support and in the interim, training and support for PSP spouses and leaders may also be beneficial.
Journal ArticleDOI
Complex Motor Learning and Police Training: Applied, Cognitive, and Clinical Perspectives
TL;DR: This review identifies practical, organizational, and systemic challenges to implementing evidence-based practices in policing and provides recommendations for best practices that will promote training effectiveness and occupational safety of end-users (i.e., police trainers and officers).
Journal ArticleDOI
Peer Support and Crisis-Focused Psychological Interventions Designed to Mitigate Post-Traumatic Stress Injuries among Public Safety and Frontline Healthcare Personnel: A Systematic Review.
TL;DR: A systematic review synthesized and appraised recent empirical research from 22 electronic databases following a population–intervention–comparison–outcome framework to find effectiveness evidence for organizational post-exposure PTSI mitigation services remains lacking.
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