Understanding and Addressing Occupational Stressors in Internet-Delivered Therapy for Public Safety Personnel: A Qualitative Analysis
Open accessAbstract
Internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (ICBT) is effective when tailored to meet the needs of public safety personnel (PSP). Nevertheless, there is limited research on the nature of the occupational stressors faced by PSP who seek ICBT and how PSP use ICBT to address occupational stressors. We provided tailored ICBT to PSP (N = 126; 54% women) and conducted a qualitative content analysis on clinicians’ eligibility screening notes, clients’ emails, and clients’ survey responses to understand the occupational stressors faced by PSP and their use of ICBT to address such stressors. Clients described several occupational stressors, including operational stressors (e.g., potentially psychologically traumatic events and sleep/shiftwork issues) and organizational stressors (e.g., issues with leadership, resources, and workload). More clients shared occupational concerns during the screening process (97%) than during treatment (58%). The most frequently cited occupational stressor was exposure to potentially psychologically traumatic events. Clients reported using course skills (e.g., controlled breathing and graduated exposure) to manage occupational stressors (e.g., responding to calls, workplace conflict, and work–family conflict). Thought challenging was the most frequently reported strategy used to manage occupational stressors. The current results provide insights into the occupational stressors PSP experience and endeavor to manage using ICBT, which can inform further efforts to tailor ICBT for PSP (e.g., adapting course materials and examples to take into account these operational and occupational stressors).
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Some PSP reported challenges with learning skills.
“Nevertheless, some PSP also reported challenges with learning skills [13] and provided suggestions for improving iCBT, including adding more resources [12].”
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- Authors
- Beahm, J. D., Landry, C. A., McCall, H. C., Carleton, R. N., & Hadjistavropoulos, H. D.
- Affiliations
- University of Regina (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Hadjistavropoulos, Heather D.
- ORCID
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2022-04-14
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 4744
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9032164
- OpenAlex
- W4223927516
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 3
- FWCI
- 2.21
- 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)
- oURspace (University of Regina) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Government of Canada - Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (NA)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Keywords
- occupational stressors, internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy, public safety personnel, organizational stressors, workload, leadership, work-family conflict, workplace conflict, stress management strategies
- MeSH terms
- Female, Humans, Male, Occupations, Sleep Wake Disorders, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Treatment Outcome, Workplace, Internet
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