Rapid response to COVID-19: addressing challenges and increasing the mental readiness of public safety personnel
Open accessAbstract
Highlights• The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the essential role of public safety personnel in serving and protecting all Canadians.• Public safety personnel were reporting challenges with mental health and well-being before the COVID-19 pandemic; accordingly, the new stressors may mean public safety personnel need additional resources to sustainably help them help us.• This article suggests elements of support that may be attainable avenues for supporting the wellbeing of public safety personnel during the protracted stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.• Sustained self-care may be critical for maintaining the mental health and well-being of public safety personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Emergency responders were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and experienced an increase in mental health challenges during the pandemic.
“emergency responders were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and, in turn, experienced an increase in mental health challenges during the pandemic (8–10).”
From Pilot outcomes and exploration of treatment mechanisms using a culturally adapted version of the unified protocol for transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders to improve mental health symptoms, alcohol misuse, functional outcomes, and sleep quality in emergency responders (2025) · cites this paper as [8]
The Introduction (page not specified) identifies emergency responders among public safety personnel and says COVID-19 stressors could reasonably be expected to increase their strain. The Abstract notes pre-existing mental-health challenges, but the paper does not establish that responders were disproportionately affected relative to others or that their mental-health challenges actually increased during the pandemic. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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The impact of COVID-19 on first responders
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- Authors
- Heber, A., Testa, V., Smith-MacDonald, L., Brémault-Phillips, S., & Carleton, R. N.
- Affiliations
- University of Ottawa (CA)
- Heroes in Mind, Advocacy and Research Consortium, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- University of Regina (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Heber, Alexandra
- Venue
- Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada
- Publisher
- Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Branch (HPCDP) Public Health Agency of Canada
- Published
- 2020-09
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 11/12
- Pages
- 350-355
- ISSN
- 2368-738X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7745835
- OpenAlex
- W3083271352
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 0.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- University of Regina
- McMaster University
- Queen's University
- Memorial University of Newfoundland
- Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Performance
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Burnout
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, public safety personnel, mental health, well-being, occupational stress, self-care, support resources, mental readiness
- MeSH terms
- Occupational Stress, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Communication, Humans, Leadership, Quarantine, Self Care, Occupational Health, Emergency Responders
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