Authors: Beahm, J.D., Landry, C.A., McCall, H.C., Carleton, R.N., & Hadjistavropoulos, H.D.
Public safety personnel (PSP) experience high rates of mental health concerns. Two types of occupational stressors that may contribute to the mental health concerns of PSP are operational stressors and organizational stressors. Operational stressors have to do with one’s job duties, such as fatigue from shift work, exposure to potentially psychologically traumatic events, and conflicts between work and personal life. Organizational stressors have to do with the context of one’s job, such as staff shortages, interpersonal issues, and a lack of resources leading to unmanageable workloads.
Internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (ICBT) effectively treats various mental health concerns and can help overcome barriers to care. The current study examined the occupational stressors that PSP describe when seeking and receiving ICBT and how PSP use skills learned in ICBT to manage those stressors.
This study examined data from 126 Saskatchewan-based clients enrolled in the PSP Wellbeing Course with PSPNET between December 5th, 2019, and March 15th, 2021. Data included information PSP shared with their therapist before, during, and after ICBT. Researchers striped all data of personal information, and PSP provided consent for their data to be used as part of this research.
This study shows that PSP seek and use ICBT to manage diverse occupational stressors, including both operational and organizational stressors. Overall, thought challenging was the skill most frequently reported as helpful by PSP. PSPNET is using the result from this study to continue to adapt and improve the PSP Wellbeing Course. For instance, the results have been used to make changes to PSP-specific case stories and to guide the development of new additional resources.
Understanding and addressing occupational stressors in internet-delivered therapy for public safety personnel. Read publication here.
The original wording of the study was changed and condensed for the current research summary.