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The effectiveness of psychological interventions for reducing PTSD and psychological distress in first responders: A systematic review and meta-analysis (PLOS ONE)

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Home / Resources / Anxiety/Panic/Phobias / The effectiveness of psychological interventions for reducing PTSD and psychological distress in first responders: A systematic review and meta-analysis (PLOS ONE)

The effectiveness of psychological interventions for reducing PTSD and psychological distress in first responders: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This article explores the evidence for psychological treatments for PTSD, anxiety, depression, stress, and burnout in first responders.


Article Abstract

“Background: First responders are faced with stressful and traumatic events in their work that may affect their psychological health. The current review examined the effectiveness of psychological interventions to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, stress and burnout in first responders.

Methods: Four databases were searched to identify controlled studies that examined the efficacy of psychological interventions to reduce PTSD symptoms (primary outcome) in first responders (including firefighters, police/law enforcement officers, search and rescue personnel, emergency and paramedics teams). Secondary outcomes were anxiety, depression, burnout, and stress.

Results: 15 studies were identified, including 10 studies that measured PTSD, 7 studies for anxiety, 10 studies for depression, 7 studies for stress and 1 for burnout. Interventions were associated with a significant reduction in PTSD (SDM = -0.86; 95% CI = -1.34 –- 0.39), depression (SDM = -0.63; 95% CI = -0.94 –-0.32), and anxiety (SDM = -0.38; 95% CI = -0.71 –-0.05) but not stress (SDM = -0.13; 95% CI = -0.51–0.25). CBT-based and clinician-delivered interventions were associated with significantly greater reductions in PTSD than other types of interventions and non-clinician interventions, but no differences were found for depression. There was evidence of moderate to high risk of bias across all studies.

Conclusions: Psychological interventions are effective in reducing PTSD, depression and anxiety symptoms but not stress in first responders. Further research is needed using high quality randomised designs over longer periods of follow-up.”

—Description from publisher

Article Access

Open Access

Alshahrani, K. M., Johnson, J., Prudenzi, A., & O’Connor, D. B. (2022). The effectiveness of psychological interventions for reducing PTSD and psychological distress in first responders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 17(8): e0272732. Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272732

About the Journal

“PLoS ONE is an inclusive journal community working together to advance science by making all rigorous research accessible without barriers.”

—Description from publisher

 

View the Resource
Basic Info Collapse

Date
August 24, 2022

Creator(s)
Khalid M. Alshahrani, Judith Johnson, Arianna Prudenzi

Contributor(s)
Daryl B. O'Connor

Topics
Anxiety/Panic/Phobias, Depression, PTSD

Client Population
First Responders/Healthcare Workers

More Info Collapse

Extent
21 pages

Publisher
PLOS ONE

Rights
© 2022 Alshahrani et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, prov

APA Citation
Alshahrani, K. M., Johnson, J., Prudenzi, A., & O’Connor, D. B. (2022). The effectiveness of psychological interventions for reducing PTSD and psychological distress in first responders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 17(8): e0272732. Open Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272732

Audience
EMDR Therapists, Other Mental Health Professionals

Language
English

Content Type
Article, Meta-analyses/Systematic Reviews, Peer-Reviewed

Access Type
External Resource, Open Access

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