Research impacts on mental health week

This week (7-13 October) is World Mental Health Week and one clinical psychologist turned Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC researcher is looking to add to knowledge about the mental health of firefighters.

The impact of individual factors, exposure to potentially traumatic events and the operational and organisational characteristics of Australian firefighters is the topic of Heather Bancroft’s CRC PhD at Phoenix Australia at the University of Melbourne.

Heather says it is pleasing to see the increased focus on mental health across the emergency management sector.

“I have been fortunate to have had a CRC scholarship that has enabled me to devote the last four years researching this important topic,” Heather said.

Four organisations participated in the study: the Country Fire Service in South Australia; ACT Fire and Rescue; ACT Rural Fire Service and the NT Fire and Rescue Service.

Heather conducted 300 clinical interviews with career and volunteer firefighters to assess their mental health. She then collected additional information through two identical online surveys that were completed by 817 participants in round one and 335 in round two.

Depression (5.5%) and alcohol dependence (5.5%) were identified as the two most prevalent rates of mental health disorders experienced in career firefighters during the interviews, while anxiety (4.9%) and depression (4.4%) were the most common disorders found in volunteer firefighters.

These results were compared to the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (2007), which found that compared to the general population, volunteer firefighters had a lower rate of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but higher rates of anxiety, while both career and volunteer firefighters had a higher rate of alcohol dependence.

“It’s also important to compare these results with other firefighter studies that have based their prevalence rates on a clinical interview,” Heather said.

The major difference between the career firefighters’ mental health in Heather’s research and a recent Australian firefighter study conducted by the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service (2017), was that alcohol dependence was higher in Heather’s study.

Heather said she cannot make the same comparison for the volunteer firefighters in her study as she is unaware of any other studies that have used clinical interviews to estimate prevalence rates.

The data collected through the online survey was used to examine the factors that contributed to the development of and protection from post-traumatic stress disorder; depression; anxiety and alcohol abuse and dependence.

Heather’s research project, The impact of individual factors, exposure to potentially traumatic events, and operational and organisational factors on mental health outcomes, has discovered that career firefighters who had high job satisfaction because of aspects like shiftwork, physical fitness requirements, and the responsibility of the job, had fewer symptoms of PTSD and depression.

Statistics from Mental Health Australia show that one in five Australians are affected by a mental illness but the stigma of reporting such feelings results in a lack of people seeking help.

Heather says that the research is showing that a supportive and open culture within the fire services will help to reduce the stigma associated with having a mental health problem.

Heather has had extensive experience working in the sector as a clinical psychologist with Ambulance Victoria, where she was Clinical Director of the Victorian Ambulance Counselling Unit.

The theme of Mental Health Week 2018 highlights young people and mental health in a changing world.

Heather presented her research at the CRC’s Research Forum at AFAC18 powered by INTERSHUTZ annual conference in Perth last month, as well as to a recent Wellbeing and Mental Health Network meeting organised by AFAC.

Heather will submit her PhD in the coming months and is then looking forward to attending conferences and events where she can share her findings. Once her thesis is submitted, she intends to complete four individualised reports on the findings for each organisation after the completion of her PhD.

The CRC is also supporting a national study led by beyondblue which is developing a national baseline data set across police, and emergency services. The results of this study will be available in November.