Exploring Perceptions of Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behaviour Therapy among Public Safety Personnel: Informing Dissemination Efforts
Open accessAbstract
Background Public safety personnel (PSP) experience high rates of mental health disorders but have limited access to treatment. To improve treatment access, there is a growing interest in offering internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) to PSP. As attitudes towards ICBT can both impact and inform ICBT implementation efforts, this study examines perceptions of ICBT among PSP who viewed a poster (a commonly used method of advertising ICBT) or a poster supplemented with a story of a PSP who benefitted from ICBT. Methods Participants (N = 132) from various PSP sectors were randomly assigned to view a poster or a poster and a story. Participants then completed an online survey assessing their perceptions of ICBT using both qualitative and quantitative questions. We used a mixed-methods approach to analyze the data. Results No differences in perceptions of ICBT were identified between the conditions. Ratings of credibility, treatment expectancy, anticipated treatment adherence, and acceptability suggested that PSP had positive perceptions of ICBT. Most participants (93%) reported that they would access ICBT if they needed help with mental health concerns. Participants ranked therapist-guided ICBT as their second most preferred treatment, with psychologists ranked first. Female participants found ICBT more credible than male participants. More experienced PSP reported lower acceptability and anticipated adherence to ICBT. Conclusions The findings suggest that many PSP are likely to be receptive to ICBT even when a simple poster is used as a method of informing PSP of this treatment option. Further attention to improving the perceptions of ICBT among certain groups may be warranted.
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Canadian PSP appear receptive to therapist-supported ICBT, which was ranked as their most preferred mental health treatment after face-to-face psychological services.
“Canadian PSP appear receptive to therapist-supported ICBT, which was ranked as their most preferred mental health treatment after face-to-face psychological services [23].”
From Initial Outcomes of Transdiagnostic Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Tailored to Public Safety Personnel: Longitudinal Observational Study (2021) · cites this paper as [23]
The PSP Wellbeing Course was tailored using extensive feedback from PSP stakeholders gleaned through 112 interviews and 132 survey responses.
“We tailored the PSP Wellbeing Course using extensive feedback from PSP stakeholders gleaned through 112 interviews [15] and 132 survey responses [23] (eg, replacing generic case stories and examples used to illustrate treatment concepts with case stories and examples about PSP).”
From Initial Outcomes of Transdiagnostic Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Tailored to Public Safety Personnel: Longitudinal Observational Study (2021) · cites this paper as [23]
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- Authors
- McCall, H. C., Sison, A. P., Burnett, J. L., Beahm, J. D., & Hadjistavropoulos, H. D.
- Affiliations
- University of Regina (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Hadjistavropoulos, Heather D.
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2020-08-19
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 17
- Pages
- 6026
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7503620
- OpenAlex
- W3074567090
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 2.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation
- Keywords
- internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy, public safety personnel, treatment access, mental illness, dissemination, poster advertising, credibility, treatment expectancy, acceptability, gender differences, experience level
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety Disorders, Ethnicity, Female, Health Personnel, Humans, Male, Minority Groups, Perception, Safety, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Treatment Outcome, Internet
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