Supporting First Responder Mental Health in Rural Alberta

U of C Project Evaluation

A critical part of the SPHIFR program is to evaluate how well the program worked. Did it meet the needs of the first responders? Did the program improve attitudes about mental health, or lead to better coping? Were signs of distress reduced among the people who attended the program or used the Espri app? Were the materials in the TWMFR program and the Espri app found to be helpful?

These are just some of the questions that will be addressed in the evaluation of this program. To do this work we will engage three elements:

A repeated set of surveys will be given to the individuals who take the TWMFR training and use the Espri app. We will use the evaluation strategy used to date for the TWMFR (see Szeto, et al, 2019) and administer a standard set of questions at pre- test, post- test and 3 month follow up. These outcomes will be compared to previous outcomes for the TWMFR. We will also assess at follow up the extent to which participants have accessed mental health services, and used the skills learned within the program.
The second part of the evaluation will be qualitative. We will interview key informants who are front- line program recipients, managers within the system and family members. These results will be analysed using an existing protocol for such information, and then compared with previous key informant outcomes for the in-person delivery of the program (Knaak, et al., 2019).
Finally, we will assess the typical measures used with new app development, such as the number of times the app was accessed, and which parts of the app were most used.

Our goal is to contribute to the development of an evidence- based set of programs and tools for rural and remote first responders. These results will be part of the overall program report and will help to inform the next iteration of care for rural and remote fire fighters and first responders.

Keith Dobson, Ph.D.
Professor, University of Calgary
Lead, Evaluation for the SPHIFR Program

References

Knaak, S., Luong, D., McLean, R., Szeto, A., & Dobson, K. S. (2019). Implementation, Uptake, and Culture Change: Results of a Key Informant Study of a Workplace Mental Health Training Program in Police Organizations in Canada. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 64, Supplement 1, 30S- 38S.