The Efficacy of a Brief Resilience Training Program for Hurricane Sandy Disaster Responders

Summary

The goal of this project is to adapt and test the efficacy of the National Institute of Environmental Health and Safety (NIEHS) Disaster Worker Resilience Training (DWRT) Program for Superstorm Sandy responders. The DWRT is a brief, 4-5 hour training program designed to improve resilience for stress reactions in active emergency responders. A total of 120 participants will be recruited. 60 will receive the DWRT, and 60 will be assigned to a waitlist control condition. A three-month assessment period will be utilized to enable us to evaluate the effects of the intervention. Participants assigned to the waitlist condition will be offered the option to participant in the course following completion of the 3 month wait period. It is hypothesized that, participants attending the DWRT program, as compared to those in the waitlist condition, will show increased resilience at three months post-intervention as indicated by lower perceived stress, greater posttraumatic growth, more positive health behaviors (e.g., sleep, nutrition, exercise), and fewer new PTSD and depression symptoms. It is predicted that participants attending the DWRT program, as compared to those in the waitlist condition, will demonstrate greater awareness of the mental health effects of disasters, including the symptoms of PTSD and depression. It is predicted that, participants attending the DWRT program, as compared to those in the waitlist condition, will endorse more positive attitudes towards mental health care, including willingness to seek treatment if needed.

Conditions

• Psychological Stress

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Disaster Worker Resiliency Training

The Disaster Worker Resilience Training (DWRT) Program is a 4 hour program which consists of a participant training manual, an instructor-training manual, and a digital presentation. It uses adult training techniques that emphasize active participation in individual and group experiential learning activities. The curriculum is organized into a preface and four chapters, each with action oriented learning objectives. Overall program objectives include a demonstrate an ability to: 1) Recognize signs and symptoms of disaster work-related stress, 2) Obtain support through employer and community resources, and 3) Build resilience by using stress reduction and coping strategies.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Northwell Health

  collaborator OTHER

• Rutgers University

  collaborator OTHER

• Department of Health and Human Services

  collaborator FED

• Stony Brook University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Adam Gonzalez, PhD · Stony Brook University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2015-04-30

Primary Completion

2016-11-30

Completion

2016-11-30