Effectiveness of a Mind–Body Intervention at Improving Mental Health and Performance Among Career Firefighters

Anthony C. Santos (), Seth Long, Christopher P. Moreno and Dierdra Bycura
Additional contact information
Anthony C. Santos: Department of Health Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
Seth Long: Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
Christopher P. Moreno: Department of Health Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
Dierdra Bycura: Department of Health Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 8, 1-33

Abstract: Almost one in three firefighters develop mental health disorders at some point during their careers, a rate double that in the general population. Frequent exposures to potentially traumatic situations can contribute to symptoms of these disorders, two of the most common being depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While various psychological interventions have been implemented among this group, reports of their effectiveness include mixed results. To this end, the current study endeavored to test the effectiveness of a 12-week intervention combining occupationally-tailored high-intensity functional training (HIFT) and psychological resilience training (RES) in reducing depressive and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSSs), as well as increasing psychological resilience and mental wellbeing, in career firefighters. Thirty career firefighters completed four mental health measurements over 17 weeks while anthropometrics and physical performance (i.e., number of stations completed in 20 min during an eight-station simulated job-task circuit workout [T-CAC]) were measured pre- and post-intervention. Pre to post comparisons were made via repeated-measures t -tests. Significant mean differences were observed for T-CAC stations completed, PTSSs, and psychological resilience between pre- and post-intervention. In future interventions, researchers should actively engage firefighters, maximize integration with daily operations, and employ culturally-relevant practices to explore the links between physical and mental health.

Keywords: firefighters; mental health; performance; functional training; psychological resilience; intervention; longitudinal research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/8/1227/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/8/1227/ (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:22:y:2025:i:8:p:1227-:d:1718736

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 ().