Trauma and Mental Health Awareness in Emergency Service Workers: A Qualitative Evaluation of the Behind the Seen Education Workshops

Andrea Fogarty, Zachary Steel, Philip B. Ward, Katherine M. Boydell, Grace McKeon and Simon Rosenbaum
Additional contact information
Andrea Fogarty: Black Dog Institute, Randwick, Sydney 2031, Australia
Zachary Steel: School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
Philip B. Ward: School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
Katherine M. Boydell: Black Dog Institute, Randwick, Sydney 2031, Australia
Grace McKeon: School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
Simon Rosenbaum: Black Dog Institute, Randwick, Sydney 2031, Australia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 9, 1-16

Abstract: Emergency service workers (ESWs) are at high risk of experiencing poor mental health, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Programs led by ex-service organizations may play an unrecognized but critical role in mental health prevention and promotion. Behind the Seen (BTS) is an Australian ex-service organization that runs workshops to raise awareness and facilitate conversations around the mental health of ESWs. The purpose of the study is to conduct a qualitative evaluation of workshop participants’ experiences, to understand the acceptability and perceived usefulness over the immediate- (within 1 month), intermediate- (6 months) and longer-terms (12 months). Participants ( n = 59 ESWs) were recruited using purposive sampling across five fire and rescue services in metropolitan, regional, and rural locations. Focus groups methodology was used for data collection and data were analyzed using iterative categorization techniques. Participants reported (i) a high perceived need for education about PTSD, (ii) highly salient aspects of the presentation that made for a positive learning experience, including the importance of the lived experiences of the facilitators in the learning process, (iii) key features of changes to intentions, attitudes, and behavior, and (iv) major aspects of the organizational context that affected the understanding and uptake of the program’s key messages. BTS was perceived as an acceptable means of delivering mental health, PTSD, and help-seeking information to ESWs. The program is a promising candidate for scaling-up and further translation.

Keywords: mental health; PTSD; first-responders; occupational stress; emergency service workers; qualitative; focus groups (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4418/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/9/4418/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:9:p:4418-:d:540571

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().