About the Study

Our Purpose

Building mental health programming for firefighters, police and paramedics, and their families.

First responders (firefighters, police, and paramedics) often experience operational stressors including shift work and exposure to potentially traumatic events. These include threats to personal safety, witnessing accidents, homicides, and many other potentially traumatic events. Stressors like these increase a first responder’s risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health concerns.

Family members of first responders, especially spouses/partners, play a critically important role amidst the operational stress that enters the home via the first responder. In some cases, first responder family members can experience their own effects of operational stress in the home (e.g., relationship difficulties, family stress, increased caregiving responsibilities) that contribute to growing problems with their own social and emotional health. Support systems and programs for first responders, however, do not typically include family members, especially spouses and partners.

Sponsored by funding from the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Family First Responder team from the University of Calgary have designed a psychoeducation and support program called Re: Building Families specifically for spouses and partners of first responders. This program aims to support and strengthen the first responder partners’ own mental health and resilience, which may in turn, support and strengthen the mental health of the first responder and other family members.

Phases 1 & 2

Focus Groups and Online Survey

Through focus groups and an online survey, we explored the psychosocial and physiological functioning of first responders and their family members. We gathered information about preferred supports to enhance family well-being, as well as preferences for the content, structure, and mode of delivery of a psychoeducation and support program. Participants emphasized the need for resources to help families understand the impact of stress and develop effective coping strategies

Phase 3

Psychoeducation Pilot Program

Alongside our focus groups and survey, we reviewed existing research and consulted with numerous helping professionals, police, fire, and paramedic groups, and family support groups. These results contributed to the development of a psychoeducational and support program. The main goal of the pilot program was to provide psychoeducation to spouses and partners of first responders about how operational stress can impact the family, and to provide preventive strategies for these partners to enhance individual and family resilience.

In the summer of 2022, we piloted the psychoeducation and support program. Participant feedback helped us refine the program and make it most helpful for partners and spouses of first responders across Canada. The pilot program included five group sessions across five consecutive weeks (May to June 2022). Participants were asked to complete questionnaires pre-program, after each session, post-program, and one month after the last session.

Phase 4

Re: Building Families Program

Following many months of redesign, reimagining, and refocusing, the Re: Building Families (RBF) program was launched in late Fall, 2022. With the guidance of numerous police, fire, and paramedic services, informal peer and family support groups, and expert clinical experience, the 6-module RBF program was offered to spouses and partners in two forms — synchronous (facilitated by a mental health professional in Zoom room with 6-8 other spouses) and asynchronous (self-directed access to psychoeducational content and learning activities — starting in February, 2023.

Each participant and their first responder were asked to complete pre, post, and 3-month follow-up questionnaires covering mental health, resilience, stress, family functioning, and family satisfaction. All participants were also offered the opportunity to wear and share data from a biometric wearable (Garmin) to objectively measure sleep, activity, heart rate variability (HRV), and stress. Data collection concluded in July, 2024, and data analysis and interpretation are underway.

Benefits

• Feedback from participants informed curriculum for a psychoeducational and support program to enhance first responder family well-being.

• Findings address the lack of research into the unique psychosocial needs of first responder family members that other first responder organizations and research can draw upon.

• The work of this study supports first responders and their families to respond to psychosocial needs that accompany the occupational stress associated with first responder roles.

• This research also has the potential to directly benefit the participants as the findings generate insights into first responder advocacy and supports.