scholarly journals Exploring the Preparedness of Student Paramedics for the Mental Health Challenges of the Paramedic Profession

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (s1) ◽  
pp. s83-s83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Undergraduate Curriculum ◽  
Degree Programs ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Mental Health Challenges

Introduction:The mental health challenges encountered by paramedics have received much attention in recent years. This attention has particularly focused on high rates of stress, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. This heightened awareness of the high incidence of mental illness, which has at times tragically resulted in the suicide of serving and former paramedics, is stimulating the address of mental health within the paramedic profession. It is now time to call on paramedic educators to prepare student paramedics for the mental health challenges associated with a career in the emergency medical services.Aim:To explore the preparedness of student paramedics for the mental health challenges of the paramedic profession and identify the coping strategies used by veteran paramedics to successfully meet these challenges.Methods:Twenty semi-structured interviews with veteran paramedics from Australia and New Zealand were conducted.Results:Advice from veteran paramedics was comprised of three key themes: support, health, and the profession.Discussion:The findings of the study indicate that the preparation of student paramedics for the mental health challenges of the paramedic profession throughout the undergraduate curriculum could be advantageous. The advice offered by veteran paramedics can be included within undergraduate paramedic curricula and delivered by sharing the personal experiences of the veteran paramedics. These experiences are highly credible and sharing them offers an opportunity for veterans to contribute positively to the future of paramedicine. Guidelines for their inclusion in the undergraduate paramedic curriculum should be prepared to facilitate knowledge translation and to encourage the development of conscious coping strategies by student paramedics during their learning phase. Further research is needed to raise awareness in this area, with a specific focus on preparing paramedic students to cope with mental health challenges related to undergraduate degree programs, and how they feel about commencing their career as a paramedic.

scholarly journals Preparing student paramedics for the mental health challenges of the profession by using the wisdom of the experienced

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Holmes ◽  
Natalie Ciccone ◽  
Lynne Cohen ◽  
Richard Brightwell
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Mental Health Policy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Undergraduate Curriculum ◽  
Positive Mental Health ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Mental Health Challenges

Given the significant mental health issues affecting our paramedics, there exists an urgent need to promote positive mental health and well-being among future cohorts of student paramedics.  This study investigated the preparedness of student paramedics for the mental health challenges of the profession and explored the coping strategies used by experienced paramedics.The study was conducted in two parts. Part A comprised of two surveys which were developed and administered to 16 course coordinators and 302 students of the 16 accredited undergraduate paramedicine courses across Australia and New Zealand. The survey aimed to identify the perceived need for preparation within the curriculum.  In addition, the anticipations, confidence and fears of student paramedics, Course Coordinators and paramedics were also collected as a means to explore the preparedness through self-evaluation, reflection and discussion.Part B included twenty semi-structured interviews with experienced paramedics, from Australia and New Zealand. The interviews were conducted to gain an understanding of their experiences and the mental health coping strategies they employed, as well as capture the advice they would give to student paramedics. Results from the interviews were validated by three focus groups comprised of six paramedics each, representative of the geographic spread.Results suggest there is widespread recognition for the need to include preparation for the mental health challenges of the profession, within accredited undergraduate paramedic courses, with 100% of course coordinators and 97% of students recognising this need.The interviews with paramedics provided valuable insights into the experiences and strategies used to aid the survival of the paramedics throughout their careers.  Within the interviews, 70% of participants expressed a sincere love for the paramedic role, and 70% identified black humour as the coping strategy most used by themselves and colleagues.  In addition, extensive advice was given to students based upon the paramedics’ lived experiences.  This advice comprised of three themes; support, health and the profession.   These findings were mapped against the aims of Australia’s current Mental Health Policy to provide evidence-based and policy-informed guidelines for the integration of positive mental health strategies into undergraduate paramedicine curricula.Preparing student paramedics for the mental health challenges of the profession could be advantageous.  One way to achieve this is through the inclusion of key content within the undergraduate curriculum by utilising the relatable data collected on anticipation, confidence, fears and the advice offered by the veteran paramedics can be integrated. These lived experiences are highly credible and an opportunity for veterans to contribute positively to the future of paramedicine.

scholarly journals Mental Health Disorders in Nurses During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications and Coping Strategies

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brittney Riedel ◽  
Sydney R. Horen ◽  
Allie Reynolds ◽  
Alireza Hamidian Jahromi
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Coping Skills ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Health Disorders

Nurses caring for patients who contract coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have experienced significant traumas in the form of increased workloads, negative patient outcomes, and less social support system access. Nurses should be provided with information regarding early detection, coping skills and treatment for anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS)/post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other mental health disorders. Early intervention is important as mental health disorders can cause dysfunction, internal suffering, and in the most extreme situations, lead to death if not properly cared for. Healthcare corporations should consider providing coverage for mental health treatment for employees who experience COVID-19 traumas. With the implementation of healthy coping skills and therapeutic intervention, nurses will be able to let go of the negative impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused and reintegrate into their roles as caring and entrusted health care providers. The current paper evaluates the mental health disorders encountered by nurses in the COVID-19 era based on the current medical literature and aims to provide practical coping strategies.

Mental health challenges and experiences in displaced populations following Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Harvey: the need for more comprehensive interventions in temporary shelters

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (10) ◽  
pp. 867-870 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuela Taioli ◽  
Stephanie Tuminello ◽  
Wil Lieberman-Cribbin ◽  
Kristin Bevilacqua ◽  
Samantha Schneider ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Hurricane Sandy ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Displaced Populations ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Mental Health Challenges ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Anxiety Depression ◽  
Hurricane Exposure

Hurricane exposure can have a profound impact on mental health, leading to increased symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder that are still present years after the storm. Those displaced following a hurricane are particularly vulnerable to adverse mental health outcomes, especially if displaced to temporary shelters. The current work highlights the experiences and mental health challenges of displaced populations following Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Harvey, as well as describing barriers to conducting research in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and the need for more comprehensive interventions in these vulnerable populations.

scholarly journals A description of the mental health and copying strategies in victims of assault with a weapon in the city of Medellín (Colombia)

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-40
Author(s):  
Carlos Alberto Alberto Marín Monsalve ◽  
Yolima Janeth Palacio Suaza ◽  
Yessenia Orrego Barrios ◽  
Daniel Camilo Aguirre Acevedo
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Deadly Weapon ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
And Coping ◽  
The City ◽  
Made In

The study looked to describe the state of mental health and coping strategies expressed during and after assault with a deadly weapon, from October 2006 to March 2007, in the city of Medellin, Colombia. Participants were 50 adults differentiated by sex. The clinical interview International Neuropsychiatric Inventory (MINI), and the protocol of characterization of assault with a deadly weapon designed by the researchers, were applied to the victims. Comparisons with averages of males and females were made, in relation to mental health and coping strategies used during and after the assault. There were no significant differences in clinical symptoms between men and women, who showed state health perturbations with symptoms of post traumatic stress and anguish disorders sometimes in life. Differences were found in copying strategies during and after assault; during assault women reactions were immobility and/or silence, men reactions were physical or verbal aggression; after assault women requested for psychological support and company while men used security devices.

scholarly journals Sources of Distress and Coping Strategies Among Emergency Physicians During COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1240-1252
Author(s):  
Erin Dehon ◽  
Kori Zachrison ◽  
Jennifer Peltzer-Jones ◽  
Ramin Tabatabai ◽  
Elizabeth Clair ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
The United States ◽  
Emergency Physicians ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Positive Reframing ◽  
Post Traumatic

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been shown to increase levels of psychological distress among healthcare workers. Little is known, however, about specific positive and negative individual and organizational factors that affect the mental health of emergency physicians (EP) during COVID-19. Our objective was to assess these factors in a broad geographic sample of EPs in the United States. Methods: We conducted an electronic, prospective, cross-sectional national survey of EPs from October 6–December 29, 2020. Measures assessed negative mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and insomnia), positive work-related outcomes, and strategies used to cope with COVID-19. After preliminary analyses and internal reliability testing, we performed four separate three-stage hierarchical multiple regression analyses to examine individual and organizational predictive factors for psychological distress. Results: Response rate was 50%, with 517 EPs completing the survey from 11 different sites. Overall, 85% of respondents reported negative psychological effects due to COVID-19. Participants reported feeling more stressed (31%), lonelier (26%), more anxious (25%), more irritable (24%) and sadder (17.5%). Prevalence of mental health conditions was 17% for depression, 13% for anxiety, 7.5% for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and 18% for insomnia. Regular exercise decreased from 69% to 56%, while daily alcohol use increased from 8% to 15%. Coping strategies of behavioral disengagement, self-blame, and venting were significant predictors of psychological distress, while humor and positive reframing were negatively associated with psychological distress. Conclusion: Emergency physicians have experienced high levels of psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those using avoidant coping strategies were most likely to experience depression, anxiety, insomnia, and PTSD, while humor and positive reframing were effective coping strategies.

scholarly journals Assessing the Feasibility of Providing a Family Skills Intervention, “Strong Families”, for Refugee Families Residing in Reception Centers in Serbia

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 4530
Author(s):  
Aala El-Khani ◽  
Karin Haar ◽  
Milos Stojanovic ◽  
Wadih Maalouf
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Parenting Practices ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Emotional Challenges ◽  
Refugee Families ◽  
Quantitative Results ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Family Mental Health ◽  
Anxiety Depression

War exposure and forced displacement threatens the wellbeing of caregivers and their children, leaving them at risk of negative outcomes, such as elevated rates of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The importance of engaged, responsive and stable parenting for positive child wellbeing has been documented across diverse cultural and economic backgrounds. Despite the higher need for caregivers to be nurturing in challenging settings, they struggle to provide adequate support for their children due to lack of resources or their inability to deal with their own emotional challenges. A feasibility study was conducted of a new, open-access and light-touch family skills intervention, Strong Families (for families in humanitarian and challenged settings) on refugee families residing in Reception Centers in Serbia. Questionnaires and interviews were completed by participating caregivers and facilitators. Qualitative results indicated that the intervention was feasible to run in this humanitarian context, that caregivers viewed the intervention as culturally acceptable and complemented the quantitative results that showed promise for enhancing child behavior and family functioning tested indicators. Despite being a light intervention, Strong Families indicated improvement on child mental health, parenting practices and parent and family adjustment skills. Prioritizing family mental health and functioning as a primary need that parallels that of accessing physical medical care, sanitation and clean water must be the definitive next step in humanitarian aid.

scholarly journals Paranoia in patients attending child and adolescent mental health services

2021 ◽  
pp. 000486742098141
Author(s):  
Jessica C Bird ◽  
Emma C Fergusson ◽  
Miriam Kirkham ◽  
Christina Shearn ◽  
Ashley-Louise Teale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Network Analyses ◽  
Self Harm ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Peer Difficulties

Objective: Paranoia may be particularly prevalent during adolescence, building on the heightened social vulnerabilities at this age. Excessive mistrust may be corrosive for adolescent social relationships, especially in the context of mental health disorders. We set out to examine the prevalence, symptom associations, and persistence of paranoia in a cohort of young people attending child and adolescent mental health services. Method: A total of 301 patients (11–17 years old) completed measures of paranoia, affect, peer difficulties and behavioural problems. Clinicians also rated each participant’s psychiatric symptoms. Patterns of association were examined using linear regressions and network analyses. In total, 105 patients repeated the measures several months later. Results: Most of the adolescents had affective disorders ( n = 195), self-harm/suicidality ( n = 82), or neurodevelopmental conditions ( n = 125). Few had suspected psychosis ( n = 7). Rates of paranoia were approximately double compared with previous reports from the general population. In this patient sample, 35% had at least elevated paranoia, 15% had at least moderate paranoia, and 6% had high paranoia. Paranoia had moderate associations with clinician-rated peer difficulties, self-harm, and trauma, and small associations with clinician-rated social anxiety, depression, generalised anxiety, and educational problems. Network analyses showed paranoia had the strongest unique relationship with peer difficulties. Paths from peer difficulties to anxiety, self-harm, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, and behavioural problems were all via paranoia. Both self-harm and post-traumatic stress disorder were solely associated with paranoia in the network. Paranoia remained persistent for three-quarters and was associated with greater psychological problems over time. Conclusion: Paranoia is relatively common and persistent across a range of clinical presentations in youth. When paranoia occurs alongside emotional problems, important peer interactions may be adversely affected. Wider consideration of paranoia in adolescent patients is needed.

scholarly journals Physiological parameters of mental health predict the emergence of post-traumatic stress symptoms in physicians treating COVID-19 patients

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Dolev ◽  
S. Zubedat ◽  
Z. Brand ◽  
B. Bloch ◽  
E. Mader ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Symptoms ◽  
Post Traumatic

AbstractLack of established knowledge and treatment strategies, and change in work environment, may altogether critically affect the mental health and functioning of physicians treating COVID-19 patients. Thus, we examined whether treating COVID-19 patients affect the physicians’ mental health differently compared with physicians treating non-COVID-19 patients. In this cohort study, an association was blindly computed between physiologically measured anxiety and attention vigilance (collected from 1 May 2014 to 31 May 31 2016) and self-reports of anxiety, mental health aspects, and sleep quality (collected from 20 April to 30 June 2020, and analyzed from 1 July to 1 September 2020), of 91 physicians treating COVID-19 or non-COVID-19 patients. As a priori hypothesized, physicians treating COVID-19 patients showed a relative elevation in both physiological measures of anxiety (95% CI: 2317.69–2453.44 versus 1982.32–2068.46; P < 0.001) and attention vigilance (95% CI: 29.85–34.97 versus 22.84–26.61; P < 0.001), compared with their colleagues treating non-COVID-19 patients. At least 3 months into the pandemic, physicians treating COVID-19 patients reported high anxiety and low quality of sleep. Machine learning showed clustering to the COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 subgroups with a high correlation mainly between physiological and self-reported anxiety, and between physiologically measured anxiety and sleep duration. To conclude, the pattern of attention vigilance, heightened anxiety, and reduced sleep quality findings point the need for mental intervention aimed at those physicians susceptible to develop post-traumatic stress symptoms, owing to the consequences of fighting at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic.

scholarly journals Exploring the impact of COVID-19 and restrictions to daily living as a result of social distancing within veterans with pre-existing mental health difficulties

2020 ◽  
pp. bmjmilitary-2020-001622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic Murphy ◽  
C Williamson ◽  
J Baumann ◽  
W Busuttil ◽  
N T Fear
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Mental Health Difficulties ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
The Impact

IntroductionData are emerging showing the adverse consequences on mental health of the general public due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Little is known about the needs of veterans with pre-existing mental health difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsData were collected through a cross-sectional online survey from a randomly selected sample (n=1092) of military veterans who have sought help for mental health difficulties from a veteran-specific UK-based charity. The response rate was 25.2% (n=275). Participants were asked to complete a range of standardised mental health outcomes (post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, common mental health difficulties (CMDs): 12-Item General Health Questionnaire, difficulties with anger: 5-Item Dimensions of Anger Reactions—Revised and alcohol misuse: Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) and endorse a list of potential stressors related to changes to daily life resulting from COVID-19. Regression analyses were fitted to explore predictors of mental health severity.ResultsIt was observed that symptoms of common mental disorder and PTSD (69.3% and 65.0%, respectively) were the most commonly reported to have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Lack of social support and reporting increasing numbers of stressors related to COVID-19 were consistently associated with increasing severity of a range of mental health difficulties.ConclusionsOur findings suggest veterans who had pre-existing mental health difficulties prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 may be at increased risk of experiencing CMDs as a result of the pandemic. Intervening to improve levels of social support and offering practical guidance to better manage any additional stressors relating to the pandemic may provide strategies to help reduce the burden of mental health symptoms.

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