Outcomes of transdiagnostic internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy tailored to public safety personnel: A longitudinal observational study.

First responders and other public safety personnel (PSP) experience high rates of mental health problems and face barriers to accessing mental healthcare. Internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) is an effective and accessible treatment for various mental health concerns. Canadian PSP report favorable attitudes toward ICBT, and preliminary outcomes demonstrate that they benefit from it. Expanding on this research, the current study consisted of a longitudinal observational study of 560 Canadian PSP who participated in ICBT. It was designed to assess the longer term effectiveness of ICBT and moderators of outcomes by gender, linguistic and occupational group, and years of occupational experience. We evaluated symptom change at 8, 26, and 52 weeks post-enrollment, and results among PSP who had elevated clinical scores, showed large reductions (Hedges' g) in symptoms of depression (g = 1.3), anxiety (g =1.48), posttraumatic stress (g =1.24), panic (g =1.19), and anger (g =1.07) and moderate reductions in symptoms of social anxiety (g =.48-.56). Moderator analyses revealed modest differences in pre-treatment symptoms among certain groups but no group differences in symptom change over time. Clients showed good completion of treatment materials and reported high treatment satisfaction. The results suggest further study of ICBT tailored to PSP is warranted, including evaluating ICBT tailored for PSP in other countries.

Examining how organizational leaders perceive internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy for public safety personnel using the RE-AIM implementation framework.

Background: Within Canada, internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) has recently been tailored by PSPNET to meet the needs of public safety personnel (PSP) to help address high rates of mental health problems within this population. Perceptions and outcomes of ICBT among PSP are promising, but it remains unknown how PSPNET is perceived by PSP organizational leaders. It is important to assess this gap because these leaders have significant potential to influence the uptake of ICBT. Methods: In the current study, PSP leaders (n = 10) were interviewed to examine their perceptions of PSPNET and opportunities to improve ICBT implementation. The RE-AIM evaluation framework was used to assess PSP leaders' perceptions of PSPNET in terms of reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance. Results: The results evidenced that leaders perceived PSPNET as effective in reaching and serving PSP and PSP organizations. PSP leaders reported perceiving ICBT as effectively implemented, especially for being freely offered to individual PSP and for improving PSP's access to experienced therapists specifically trained to work with PSP. Participants indicated organizations have promoted and will continue promoting PSPNET longer-term, facilitating adoption and maintenance. Factors perceived as facilitating successful service delivery included building relationships and trust with PSP organizations and general support for PSP leadership mental health initiatives. PSP leaders identified perceived areas for improving ICBT implementation (e.g., ensuring leaders have access to data on PSPNET uptake and outcomes, creating promotional videos, expanding availability of PSPNET to other provinces, offering additional options for receiving therapist support). Implications: Overall, the study provides insights into PSP leaders' perceptions of the implementation of ICBT among PSP and ideas for optimizing implementation efforts.

Web-Based Mindfulness Meditation as an Adjunct to Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Public Safety Personnel: Mixed Methods Feasibility Evaluation Study.

BACKGROUND: Public safety personnel (PSP) are individuals who work to ensure the safety and security of communities (eg, correctional workers, firefighters, paramedics, and police officers). PSP have a high risk of developing mental disorders and face unique barriers to traditional mental health treatments. The PSP Wellbeing Course is a transdiagnostic, internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) course tailored to assist PSP with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The initial course outcomes are promising, but some clients report some challenges with learning skills and recommend adding additional resources. Mindfulness meditations, which help people to experience the world and their reactions to the world in open and nonjudgmental ways, may complement the existing PSP Wellbeing Course. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine the feasibility of mindfulness meditations in iCBT tailored for PSP. Information was gathered to evaluate engagement and client experiences with mindfulness meditations, symptom change, and the relationship between mindfulness meditation use and symptom change. METHODS: A mixed methods study was conducted on PSP enrolled in the PSP Wellbeing Course who were offered 5 mindfulness meditations during the program (ie, 1/lesson). Clients completed questionnaires on depression, anxiety, PTSD, anger, insomnia, resilience, and mindfulness at pretreatment and at 8 weeks; an 8-week treatment satisfaction questionnaire; and brief weekly measures of mindfulness meditation engagement. We used paired sample t tests (2-tailed) to assess changes in outcomes over time and partial correlations to assess whether mindfulness meditation use predicted outcomes at posttreatment. A total of 12 clients were interviewed about their perceptions of the mindfulness meditations, and interviews were analyzed using directed content analysis. RESULTS: Among the 40 clients enrolled, 27 (68%) reported using the mindfulness meditations, practicing for an average of 4.8 (SD 8.1) minutes each week. Most interviewees described the mindfulness meditations as beneficial but also reported challenges, such as discomfort while sitting with their feelings. Clients provided suggestions for better integration of mindfulness into iCBT. Overall, clients who completed the PSP Wellbeing Course with mindfulness meditations experienced statistically significant improvements in symptoms of anxiety (P=.001), depression (P=.001), PTSD (P=.001), and anger (P=.001) but not insomnia (P=.02). Clients also experienced improvements in resilience (P=.01) and mindfulness (P=.001). Self-reported time spent meditating was not associated with changes in symptoms over time. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides new insight into the integration of mindfulness meditations with iCBT for PSP. It demonstrates the partial feasibility of adding mindfulness meditations to iCBT, revealing that some, but not all, PSP engaged with the meditations and reported benefits. PSP reported using the mindfulness meditations inconsistently and described challenges with the meditations. Improvements can be made to better integrate mindfulness meditation into iCBT, including offering mindfulness meditation as an optional resource, providing more psychoeducation on managing challenges, and offering shorter meditations.

Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Tailored to Spouses and Significant Others of Public Safety Personnel: Formative Evaluation Study.

BACKGROUND: Spouses and significant others (SSOs) of public safety personnel (PSP) are affected by the risks and requirements of these occupations. Internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) provides a convenient and accessible treatment format that can be tailored to the needs of SSOs of PSP. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the initial use and client perceptions (eg, likes, helpfulness, and areas for improvement) of a self-guided, transdiagnostic ICBT course designed for Canadian SSOs of PSP and identify opportunities to further tailor ICBT for this group. METHODS: SSOs were invited to complete a 5-lesson, self-guided, transdiagnostic ICBT course. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the demographic and clinical characteristics of participants. Content analysis was used to analyze the data from open-ended survey responses and interviews to understand their experiences with ICBT. RESULTS: Clients (N=118) endorsed various mental health concerns (eg, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and relationship concerns) with a range of severity levels. Most clients identified as White (110/116, 94.8%) and women (108/116, 91.5%), with a mean age of 42.03 (SD 9.36) years. Of the 26 clients who were interviewed, 89% (23/26) reported believing that ICBT is helpful and 92% (24/26) reported finding at least 1 skill helpful. Clients provided suggestions for course improvements. On the basis of this feedback and quantitative data, changes were made to areas such as the delivery of materials, content, case stories, and timelines. Overall, the results indicated that many SSOs of PSP had positive perceptions of ICBT tailored to their needs and found several aspects of the course helpful, supporting the continued delivery of tailored ICBT to this population. However, there remains a need for continued promotion of the course and outreach to diverse groups of SSOs of PSP. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this formative evaluation provide insight into the unique experiences and needs of SSOs of PSP and provide preliminary evidence for the use of tailored ICBT to support the mental health of this group in Canada.

Internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy for symptoms of PTSD among public safety personnel: Initial outcomes of an open cohort preference trial of transdiagnostic and disorder-specific therapy.

Public safety personnel (PSP) face high rates of mental health problems and many barriers to care. Initial outcomes of transdiagnostic internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) tailored for PSP are promising, but prior research has not evaluated outcomes of PTSD-specific ICBT among PSP or PSP's preferences for transdiagnostic or PTSD-specific ICBT. The current paper presents the initial outcomes (N = 150) of a mixed-methods observational study designed to (a) investigate preferences for transdiagnostic or PTSD-specific ICBT among PSP with elevated symptoms of PTSD and/or a primary concern with PTSD symptoms and (b) explore potential differences in client engagement, satisfaction, and symptom changes between the two forms of ICBT. PSP completed questionnaires before and after their preferred ICBT program. Mixed-methods analyses included generalized estimating equations, descriptive statistics, and inductive conventional qualitative content analysis. More clients (n = 85; 57 %) selected transdiagnostic ICBT than PTSD-specific ICBT (n = 65; 43 %), but the difference in the number of clients who selected each course was not statistically significant. Clients in both ICBT programs reported similar and favorable treatment satisfaction (e.g., 98 % would recommend the course to a friend), treatment engagement (i.e., 69 % accessed at least four of the five lessons), and pre-post improvement in symptoms (e.g., Hedges' g = 0.81 for reduction in PTSD symptom). Transdiagnostic ICBT resulted in greater reductions in symptoms of panic disorder than PTSD-specific ICBT. Qualitative analyses showed similarities across the ICBT programs in client feedback. The current study provides further evidence supporting the use and outcomes of ICBT for PSP in both transdiagnostic and disorder-specific formats. Implications for the literatures on PSP mental health and ICBT, as well as practical recommendations, are discussed.

Sustaining and Expanding Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (ICBT) for Public Safety Personnel across Canada: A Survey of Stakeholder Perspectives.

Public safety personnel (PSP) experience an elevated risk of mental health problems and face barriers to treatment. Internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) has been tailored to PSP to improve access to mental health care. In this study, we sought to investigate perceptions of ICBT, particularly among those with and without prior knowledge of ICBT and between PSP leaders and non-leaders. A survey was administered to 524 PSP from across Canada to identify (a) how PSP perceive ICBT, (b) the extent of organizational support for tailored ICBT in PSP organizations, particularly leadership's support, and (c) perceived facilitators and barriers to funding tailored ICBT. The results indicated that PSP perceive ICBT to have more advantages than disadvantages. PSP who had previously heard of tailored ICBT had more positive perceptions. PSP indicated that there is a need for ICBT, and PSP leaders indicated their support for the implementation of tailored ICBT. The study identified that there is a need for increasing awareness of the effectiveness of and need for ICBT in order to facilitate funding of services. Overall, the current study indicates that PSP support ICBT as a valued form of therapy and that policy makers and service providers seeking to provide ICBT to PSP may increase support for ICBT services through more education and awareness.

Understanding and Addressing Occupational Stressors in Internet-Delivered Therapy for Public Safety Personnel: A Qualitative Analysis.

Internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) is effective when tailored to meet the needs of public safety personnel (PSP). Nevertheless, there is limited research on the nature of the occupational stressors faced by PSP who seek ICBT and how PSP use ICBT to address occupational stressors. We provided tailored ICBT to PSP (N = 126; 54% women) and conducted a qualitative content analysis on clinicians' eligibility screening notes, clients' emails, and clients' survey responses to understand the occupational stressors faced by PSP and their use of ICBT to address such stressors. Clients described several occupational stressors, including operational stressors (e.g., potentially psychologically traumatic events and sleep/shiftwork issues) and organizational stressors (e.g., issues with leadership, resources, and workload). More clients shared occupational concerns during the screening process (97%) than during treatment (58%). The most frequently cited occupational stressor was exposure to potentially psychologically traumatic events. Clients reported using course skills (e.g., controlled breathing and graduated exposure) to manage occupational stressors (e.g., responding to calls, workplace conflict, and work-family conflict). Thought challenging was the most frequently reported strategy used to manage occupational stressors. The current results provide insights into the occupational stressors PSP experience and endeavor to manage using ICBT, which can inform further efforts to tailor ICBT for PSP (e.g., adapting course materials and examples to take into account these operational and occupational stressors).

Insights into internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy for public safety personnel: Exploration of client experiences during and after treatment.

Canadian public safety personnel (PSP) experience high rates of mental health problems and barriers to receiving care. Internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) may help reduce barriers to care; however, there is no literature involving qualitative analyses of client feedback to describe PSP experiences with ICBT. Identifying these experiences is important because it can inform future use of ICBT with this group that has unique needs. The current study was designed to explore how clients (N = 82) experienced ICBT that had been tailored to meet their needs; specifically, the study assessed their perceptions of program impacts, what clients found helpful, and client suggestions for improvements. The ICBT course included five core lessons, client stories, and nine initial additional resources, as well as flexible frequencies (optional, once weekly, or twice weekly) and durations (8 to 16 weeks) of therapist support. A qualitative reliability thematic analysis was used to analyze client communications and feedback. Responses to a Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire administered at eight weeks post-enrollment were available for 57 clients. Client emails with therapists were also examined among all clients, including an additional 25 clients who did not complete the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire. Themes identified in the qualitative analyses were related to: reported impacts and hindering events, helpful and challenging course skills and content, helpful aspects of the course, and areas for improvement. Clients who completed the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire and those who did not reported beneficial impacts from the program, with the most commonly endorsed themes being skill development and normalizing mental health issues. Hindering events were experienced by both groups and included timeline challenges, technology challenges, and negative effects. Comments from both groups suggested that clients had more success than challenges when practicing the skills. Thought challenging was the skill most frequently identified as helpful. Clients described many aspects of the program as helpful with the most frequently endorsed themes being the course format and content, the flexible nature of the course, access to additional materials and case stories, and therapist assistance. Clients also provided suggestions for improving the course (e.g., case stories, additional resources, timelines audio and videos). Overall, client communications suggest that ICBT is accepted and perceived as beneficial among PSP. These results informed rapid improvements to the ICBT program tailored for PSP and may inform others seeking to provide digital mental health services to PSP.

Exploring Perceptions of Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behaviour Therapy among Public Safety Personnel: Informing Dissemination Efforts.

Background Public safety personnel (PSP) experience high rates of mental health disorders but have limited access to treatment. To improve treatment access, there is a growing interest in offering internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) to PSP. As attitudes towards ICBT can both impact and inform ICBT implementation efforts, this study examines perceptions of ICBT among PSP who viewed a poster (a commonly used method of advertising ICBT) or a poster supplemented with a story of a PSP who benefitted from ICBT. Methods Participants (N = 132) from various PSP sectors were randomly assigned to view a poster or a poster and a story. Participants then completed an online survey assessing their perceptions of ICBT using both qualitative and quantitative questions. We used a mixed-methods approach to analyze the data. Results No differences in perceptions of ICBT were identified between the conditions. Ratings of credibility, treatment expectancy, anticipated treatment adherence, and acceptability suggested that PSP had positive perceptions of ICBT. Most participants (93%) reported that they would access ICBT if they needed help with mental health concerns. Participants ranked therapist-guided ICBT as their second most preferred treatment, with psychologists ranked first. Female participants found ICBT more credible than male participants. More experienced PSP reported lower acceptability and anticipated adherence to ICBT. Conclusions The findings suggest that many PSP are likely to be receptive to ICBT even when a simple poster is used as a method of informing PSP of this treatment option. Further attention to improving the perceptions of ICBT among certain groups may be warranted.