News & Events
August 23, 2020
New publication released on exposure to potentially traumatic events
CIPSRT is pleased to announce that the next results from “Assessing Operational Stress Injuries and Symptoms for Canadian First Responders and other Public Safety Personnel” (i.e., the CIPSRT-AX1 Prevalence Survey) are now available in the peer-reviewed article entitled “Exposures to Potentially Traumatic Events Among Public Safety Personnel in Canada”. The article is published by the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science.
The full and final version of the article is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cbs0000115
Publication Overview
The survey was designed to clarify the scope of self-reported exposure to potentially traumatic events among diverse Canadian public safety personnel, including correctional workers, call centre operators, dispatchers, firefighters, paramedics, and police. The survey was also designed to help clarify the nature of potentially traumatic events reported as most distressing by Canadian public safety personnel, as well as the relationship between exposure to specific potentially traumatic events and self-reported mental health symptoms.
Survey participants self-reported exposure to many different types of potentially traumatic events. Frequency of exposure to each type of potentially traumatic event varied by occupation, but substantial proportions of survey participants reported being exposed to each event more than ten times, which appears much higher than estimates for the general population.
CIPSRT has made available a suite of on-line anonymous Self-Assessment Tools specifically for public safety personnel to self-screen, offering an indication of whether they might benefit from professional attention.
The results are another critically important piece of information in the growing national effort to support public safety personnel. In particular, the results help to understand the scope of challenges related to repeated exposure to potentially traumatic events, offer directions for areas of focus, and support the urgently needed next steps in identifying risk factors that might be reduced as part of efforts towards prevention.
Please visit CIPSRT’s Publications page to view additional publications.