Congratulations to the FIREWELL members who received 2 (out of 22) one-year CIHR catalyst grants for their projects on post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI) in firefighters:
Cross-jurisdiction and contextual evaluations of mental health resiliency training in firefighters
Investigators: Dr. Joy MacDermid (Project Lead), Dr. Amanda Brazil, Dr. Dianne Bryant, Dr. Nick Carleton, Dr. Heidi Cramm, Acting Captain Steve Fraser (Vancouver Fire & Rescue Services)
Collaborators: Ms. Robin Campbell, Mr. Nick Halmasy
Aim: To evaluate the delivery and health/work impacts of a protective mental health intervention (Resilient Minds) for firefighters; and determine how factors like location (Vancouver, Prince Edward Island), employment context (career, volunteer), gender, age and prior trauma exposures might mediate how firefighters respond to this new program.
Identifying the impact of formal and informal critical incident interventions on firefighters’ exposure to post-traumatic stress injury in a Northwestern Ontario fire service
Investigators: Dr. Kathryn Sinden (Project Lead), Firefighter Regan Bolduc (Thunder Bay Fire Rescue), Dr. Sandra Dorman, Dr. Michel Larivière, Dr. Jo-Ann Vis
Aim: To identify a) the burden of critical incident exposure (CIE) and PTSI among Thunder Bay firefighters; b) differences in experience and impact when FF who have experienced a CIE use formal (Defusing) and informal (i.e.,Truck-to Table talks, adaptations of the Road to Mental Readiness) CIE management strategies, and c) impact of delivering formal and informal CIE strategies on the Critical Incident Response Team.
To learn more: click here.
CIHR news release: Government of Canada invests more than $11 million in research into post-traumatic stress injuries in public safety personnel