Bryce Hruska (PHP) PI, 2022 CUSE Grant – Innovative & Interdisciplinary Research. 7/1/22-6/30/24
Bryce Hruska (PHP) PI, EMS Worker Navigation Study – Phase 2: Preliminary Test of a Resilience Building Intervention & the Role of Psychosocial Safety Climate on Mental Health – Resubmission, 2022 CUSE Grant – Innovative & Interdisciplinary Research. 7/1/22-6/30/24
Emergency medical service (EMS) workers (i.e., ambulance service providers) experience triple the risk for anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared to the general U.S. population. These mental disorders impact health and well-being across the life course. Thus, there is a critical need for interventions targeting key risk factors that can reduce EMS workers’ mental health risk. Chronic stress represents such a risk factor and is a routine feature of the EMS profession due to the demands of providing emergency medical care. The current project will perform an initial efficacy test of Self-Reflective Resilience Training-Recovery Activity Promotion (SRRT-RAP) in reducing mental health symptoms among EMS workers. This will be accomplished by delivering daily intervention content that modifies stress responses and encourages recovery activity practice. The proposed project will also expand prior research by considering psychosocial safety climate (PSC), an organizational characteristic that may amplify the relationship between occupational stress and mental health symptoms. The current project aligns with the priorities of the CUSE Innovative and Interdisciplinary Research Grant mechanism: It represents the first examination of SRRT-RAP’s impact on EMS worker mental health and the first comprehensive examination of PSC as an organizational-level feature associated with mental health risk in this population; it represents an interdisciplinary effort spanning public health, occupational health, and behavioral science; and it is being performed by investigators with collaboration history and expertise in stress, intensive daily data collection, and mental health intervention. Thus, the proposed project is innovative and interdisciplinary and competitively positioned for success.