A Digital Resilience Intervention for Emergency Medical Service Workers

Syracuse University83 enrolled

Overview

Emergency medical service (EMS) workers (i.e., ambulance service providers) experience triple the risk for anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared to the general U.S. population. These mental disorders impact health and well-being across the life course. Thus, there is a critical need for interventions targeting key risk factors that can reduce EMS workers' mental health risk. Chronic stress represents such a risk factor and is a routine feature of the EMS profession due to the demands of providing emergency medical care. Self-Reflective Resilience-Recovery Activity Promotion Training (SRR-RAPT) promotes finding positive meaning in stressors by building self-awareness of the coping and regulatory responses used to manage them; evaluating those responses; adapting them based upon their perceived effectiveness; and developing a plan for managing similar stressors in the future based on what can be learned from the current situation. In addition to prompting self-monitoring and active reflection on stressors and coping responses, SRR-RAPT encourages practicing recovery activities that permit a person's stressor induced strain level to return to baseline. The primary objective of the current study is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and adoptability of SRR-RAPT among EMS personnel. A secondary objective was to examine the intervention's effect on hypothesized mechanisms of action predicted to vary in response to the intervention, as well as consider the intervention's ability to reduce mental health symptoms. It is hypothesized that the intervention will be associated with more positive meaning made, adaptive self-reflection, recovery activities, and recovery experiences, as well as lower levels of mental health symptoms.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Interventions

Self-Reflective Resilience-Recovery Activity Promotion TrainingBEHAVIORAL

Self-Reflective Resilience-Recovery Activity Promotion Training (SRR-RAPT) promotes finding positive meaning in stressors by building self-awareness of the coping and regulatory responses used to manage them; evaluating those responses; adapting them based upon their perceived effectiveness; and developing a plan for managing similar stressors in the future based on what can be learned from the current situation. In addition to prompting self-monitoring and active reflection on stressors and coping responses, SRR-RAPT encourages practicing recovery activities that permit a person's stressor induced strain level to return to baseline. SRR-RAPT is administered daily for 8 consecutive days.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Full-time or part-time employee at an emergency medical service agency * ≥ 18 years of age * ≥ 1 emergency medical service shift scheduled in the next 8 days from recruitment date. Exclusion Criteria: * Not a full-time or part-time employee at an emergency medical service agency * \< 18 years of age * \< 1 emergency medical service shift scheduled in the next 8 days from recruitment date.

Locations (1)

Syracuse University

Syracuse, New York, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Time period required to achieve target sample size

The number of months it takes to recruit the number of participants necessary to reach the target sample size.

Time frame: From study initiation until at least 80 participants are recruited, up to 12 months

Number of participants recruited and randomized each week of the study

A count of the number of participants who are recruited and randomized each week that the study is taking place.

Time frame: From study initiation until at least 80 participants are recruited, up to 12 months

Acceptability

Assessed with 3 items asking about respondents' perceptions that the intervention was helpful ("I found that answering the questions about managing stressful experiences and practicing recovery behaviors was helpful"); useful ("I found that answering the questions about managing stressful experiences and practicing recovery behaviors was useful"); and not burdensome ("I found that answering the questions about managing stressful experiences and practicing recovery behaviors was not too burdensome"). Respondents rated each item on a scale ranging from 1 ("Strongly Disagree") to 5 ("Strongly Agree"). Ratings are summed to yield a total daily score.

Time frame: Day 8 of the intervention

Adoptability

Assessed with 3 items asking about respondents intention to use what they had learned from the intervention in the future ("I will keep using these questions to help manage stressful experiences and practice recovery activities in the future." "I will try to use these questions in the future when managing stressful experiences and trying to practice recovery activities." "I plan to use some of the approaches that I came up with in my responses to the questions about managing stressful experiences and practicing recovery behaviors in the future"). Respondents rate each item on a scale ranging from 1 ("Strongly Disagree") to 5 ("Strongly Agree"). Ratings are summed to yield a total daily score.

Time frame: Day 8 of the intervention

Secondary Outcomes

Meaning Made

Assessed using 3 items with the highest factor loadings on the positive reframing, acceptance, and religion subscales of the Brief COPE plus one additional item representing growth ("I identified lessons that I can learn from the challenge"). Respondents rate how much they performed the strategy described in response to any stressful or challenging experiences they encountered today. Ratings are made on a scale ranging from 1 ("Not at all") to 4 ("I did this a lot"). Ratings are summed to yield a total daily score.