First Responders
“First responder” describes workers who are often the first to attend the scene of an emergency, which includes firefighters, ambulance personnel and police officers. They are routinely exposed to potentially traumatic and stressful events whilst at work.
This series of research looks at the prevalence of trauma-related mental health issues, including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorders in first responders. It also looks at workplace interventions that may prevent or support mental health disorders in first responders.
Research (most to least recent)
Wagner, S. L., White, N., Buys, N., Carey, M. G., Corneil, W., Fyfe, T., Matthews, L. R., Randall, C., Regehr, C., White, M., Alden, L. E., Krutop, E., Fraess-Phillips, A., & Fleischmann, M. H. (2020). Systematic review of mental health symptoms in firefighters exposed to routine duty-related critical incidents. Traumatology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000275
Alden, L. E., Matthews, L. R., Wagner, S., Fyfe, T., Randall, C., Regehr, C., White, M., Buys, N., Carey, M.G., Corneil, W., White, N., Fraess-Phillips, A. & Krutop, E. (2020). Systematic literature review of psychological interventions for first responders. Work and Stress. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2020.1758833
Wagner, S. L., White, N., Regehr, C., White, M., Alden, L. E., Buys, N., Carey, M. G., Corneil, W., Fyfe, T., Matthews, L. R., Randall, C., Krutop, E., & Fraess-Phillips, A. (2020). Ambulance personnel: Systematic review of mental health symptoms. Traumatology. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000251
Wagner, S. L., White, N., Randall, C., Regehr, C., White, M., Alden, L. E., Buys, N., Carey, M.G., Corneil, W., Fyfe, T., Matthews, L.R.,Fraess-Phillips, A. & Krutop, E. (2020). Mental Disorders in Firefighters Following Large-Scale Disaster. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.61
Wagner, S. L., White, N., Fyfe, T., Matthews, L. R., Randall, C., Regehr, C., White, M., Alden, L.E., Buys, N., Carey, M.G., Corneil, W., Fraess-Phillips, A., Krutop, E. & Fleischmann, M. H. (2020). Systematic review of posttraumatic stress disorder in police officers following routine work‐related critical incident exposure. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 63(7), 600–615. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.23120
Regehr, C., Carey, M. G., Wagner, S., Alden, L. E., Buys, N., Corneil, W., Fyfe, T., Matthews, L., Randall, C., White, M., Fraess-Phillips, A., Krutop, E., White, N. & Fleischmann, M. (2019). A systematic review of mental health symptoms in police officers following extreme traumatic exposures. Police Practice and Research. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15614263.2019.1689129
Regehr, C., Carey, M., Wagner, S., Alden, L. E., Buys, N., Corneil, W., Fyfe, T., Fraess-Phillips, A., Krutop, E., Matthews, L., Randall, L., White, M. & White, N. (2019). Prevalence of PTSD, Depression and Anxiety Disorders in Correctional Officers: A Systematic Review. Corrections, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/23774657.2019.1641765
Wagner, S., White, N., Matthews, L. R., Randall, C., Regehr, C., White, M., Alden, L.E., Buys, N., Carey, M.G., Corneil, W., Fyfe, T., Krutop, E., Fraess-Phillips, A. & Fleischmann, M. H. (2019, September 25). Depression and anxiety in policework: a systematic review. Policing. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-03-2019-0040