Completed Projects
From left to right: Dr. Amber Fletcher, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Regina; Dr. R. Nicholas Carleton, Scientific Director of CIPSRT and Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Regina
Title of Research
Mental health support services for public safety personnel in Canada
Summary
Public safety personnel (PSP) are often exposed to potentially traumatic events which may contribute to mental health challenges. As a result of these exposures, many workplaces and agencies have begun to provide services intended to help support the mental health of PSP. At this time, it is not known how many agencies are offering mental health assistance, what types of services are provided, and if they are effective for PSP members.
The goal of this study is to create a catalogue of all available services offered as mental health support for PSP in Canada. Once all services are compiled, the project will move into a second phase where services are evaluated. The evaluation will consist of comparing and contrasting the service content and determining the research evidence-base for the services.
Service providers will be surveyed to ensure that the content, overlap, and diversity of their programs are fully understood by the research team. Next, the program providers and an independent panel of mental health professionals will assess the components of each service.
Upon completion, the research team hopes to provide clarity for PSP leaders and policy-makers about the relative similarities and differences of each service. The catalogue and evaluation will also provide a starting point for current and future research on the effectiveness of mental health support services for PSP.
When to expect results
Preliminary results will be available for end of April 2020.
Research team
Dr. Amber Fletcher; Dr. R. Nicholas Carleton; Dr. Rosemary Ricciardelli, Professor of Sociology at Memorial University; Dr. Greg Anderson; Dr. Jill Price, Post-doctoral fellow CIPSRT; Marudan Sivagurunathan, Graduate Student, Western University.
Final Results
Final Knowledge Translation report
PSP Mental Health Website
Papers resulting from the research
Price, J. A. B., Landry, C. A., Sych, J., McNeill, M., Stelnicki, A. M., Asmundson, A. J. N., & Carleton, R. N. (2022). Assessing the Perceptions and Impact of Critical Incident Stress Management Peer Support among Firefighters and Paramedics in Canada. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(9), 4976. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19094976
Price, J. A. B., Ogunade, A. O., Fletcher, A. J., Ricciardelli, R., Anderson, G. S., Cramm, H., & Carleton, R. N. (2022). Peer Support for Public Safety Personnel in Canada: Towards a Typology. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(9), 5013. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095013