Assessing the REBOOT First Responders program: Physical, mental, and social health outcomes.

Abstract

The REBOOT First Responders program has offered spiritual care for occupational trauma to first responders and their caregivers since 2018. The goal of this study was to evaluate the program with respect to the physical health, mental health, and social health of course graduates. Self-report data collected from 124 attendees during the third session and the 12th session of the course did not show improvement in physical function, but gains were apparent in pain interference and intensity, sleep health, mental health, and social health. Improvement was largely uniform across personal characteristics, course characteristics, and occupational characteristics. Taken together, the findings imply that the REBOOT First Responders program may have utility for helping first responders and their caregivers with the stressors they face.

Moral injury among first responders: Experience, effects, and advice in their own words.

“…Although program evaluation research suggests that the REBOOT First Responders course is helpful for bolstering the well-being of attendees (Knobloch & Owens, 2023a, 2023b), the program also provides basic instruction about the concept of moral injury. We opted to recruit REBOOT graduates for interviews to spotlight the perspectives of first responders who were familiar with the moral injury construct, who had mindfully reflected on their experiences, and who were healthy enough to discuss moral injury with a low likelihood of retraumatization.…”

The development and protocol for testing a co-created digital intervention (Sentinel) to improve mental wellbeing and help manage and prevent trauma in first responders

“…First responders (FRs; police, fire and ambulance officers, military, veterans, emergency healthcare workers) are at increased risk of experiencing traumatic stress-related conditions resulting from exposure to work-based traumas (Cogan et al, 2022;Geuzinge et al, 2020;Klimley, et al, 2018;Knobloch, & Owens, 2023;Krantz, et al, 2022). FRs are exposed to unpredictable and/or dangerous environments, demanding workloads, and heavy emotional labor making such occupations unique in terms of their demands (Johnson et al, 2018;Stansfeld et al, 2011).…”