Grant: Team Grant: Mental Wellness in Public Safety Team Grants - LOI

Firefighting is a physically demanding, high risk occupation that also increases firefighters (FFs) to critical event exposure (CIE) which is linked to increasing risk of post-traumatic stress injury (PTSI). Examples of CIE include witnessing a death, removing a recently deceased body and/or managing a call that involves children. Our recent research with a subsample of Thunder Bay Fire Rescue (TBFR) FFs and the Thunder Bay Professional Firefighters' Association (TBPFFA) has identified that 94% of FFs in Thunder Bay experienced exposure to at least one critical event in a 2-month period; 79% were in response to an incident involving 1 or 2 deaths and 40% involved removing a dead body. Although TBFR FFs experience a high CIE burden, anecdotal evidence suggests that they are less likely to report PTSI exposure resulting from CIE; consequently, access to treatment may be limited. The proposed research was developed in collaboration with TBFR, TBPFFA and the Chair of their Critical Incident Response team (CIRT) and aims to: a.) identify physiological and self-report response during critical incident exposures (CIE) where physiological responses have been linked to PTSI risk; b.) develop a screening tool that stratifies physiological and self-report responses during CIE into tiered categories (Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light) to improve awareness of PTSI exposure and direct access to treatment/intervention and c.) identify effectiveness of the "Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light, Go!" awareness strategy on PTSI among career firefighters in Northern Ontario. The study findings will help to identify whether this approach assists firefighters in managing CIE, PTSI risk and improving their access to treatment.