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- Title
Mental Health Risk Factors Related to COVID-19 among Canadian Public Safety Professionals.
- Authors
Wagner, Shannon; Di Nota, Paula M.; Groll, Dianne; Lentz, Liana; Shields, Robyn E.; Carleton, R. Nicholas; Cramm, Heidi; Wei Lin, Becky; Anderson, Gregory S.
- Abstract
Public safety personnel (PSP) are known to experience difficult and demanding occupational environments, an environment that has been complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Firefighters, paramedics, and public safety communicators were among the front-line workers that continued to serve the public throughout the course of the pandemic. The present study considered the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-reported symptoms of mental health challenges in Canadian firefighters, paramedics, and public safety communicators. Participants were firefighters (n = 123), paramedics (n = 246), and public safety communicators (n = 48), who completed an online survey, including demographics, questions related to COVID-19 exposure and worry, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, the Social Interaction Phobia Scale, and the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-5. Results revealed that risk factors for increased mental health symptom reporting were paramedic occupation, self-identified female, younger in age, COVID-19 personal contact, requirement to self-isolate, and self-perception of COVID-19 contraction (without confirmation through testing). The COVID-19 pandemic should be considered a risk factor for increased mental health symptom reporting in PSP.
- Subjects
MENTAL illness risk factors; INDUSTRIAL safety; COVID-19; SELF-evaluation; SICK people; EMERGENCY medical technicians; MEDICAL personnel; RISK assessment; EMERGENCY medical personnel; COVID-19 pandemic
- Publication
Psychiatry International, 2023, Vol 4, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2673-5318
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/psychiatryint4010001