Opening the Discussion: First Responder Willingness to Discuss Mental Health after Occupational Wellness Training

• In Event: 30859 - Mental Health in Crisis: From COVID-19 to Combat

Abstract

Professional first responders (Law Enforcement Officers, Emergency Medical Services, and Firefighters) experience intense occupational stress. Through their occupations, they experience repeated trauma exposure, long work shifts, irregular hours, inadequate sleep, safety uncertainty, public scrutiny, and physical hardship all contributing to psychological distress. As a result of this psychological distress, there are increases in substance use, reported depression, and suicide rates among first responders. In this study, we looked at the impact of mental health-informed occupational wellness training on first responders' willingness to discuss mental health and openness to seek mental health help. Despite asymmetric perceptions of risk and stress between groups, first responders report similar attitudes toward help seeking. All three groups showed significant improvement in mental health seeking scores following the training. These findings suggest first responders were more open to discussing mental health and seeking mental health help following the training.

Authors

• Anna La Manna, Washington University, St. Louis

• Saad Sidiqqui, Missouri Institute of Mental Health

• Meghan M. O'Neil, Michigan State University

• Garland Gerber, Northeastern University

• Kyle Vance

• Zach Budesa

• Jeremiah Goulka

• Leo Beletsky

• Rachel Winograd