Can Resilience be Measured and Used to Predict Mental Health Symptomology Among First Responders Exposed to Repeated Trauma?

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether baseline measures of resilience among active first responders predicts future mental health symptomology following trauma exposure. METHODS: Multivariate linear regression examined the associations between baseline resilience and future mental health symptomatology following repeated trauma exposure. Symptomatology at 6-month follow-up was the dependent variable. RESULTS: The associations between baseline resilience and future posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (P = 0.02) and depression (P = 0.03) symptoms were statistically significant. Those reporting higher resilience levels had lower symptomology at 6-month follow-up. Eighty percent of first-responders who screened positive for low resilience went on to develop more PTSD symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Examining resilience may serve as a more effective means of screening, given resilience is a malleable construct which can be enhanced via targeted interventions. Higher levels of resilience may protect the long-term mental health of first-responders, particularly in regard to future PTSD.