Self-reflection resilience-recovery activity promotion training for emergency medical service clinicians: A randomized controlled pilot trial of a novel digital intervention.
Randomized trial demonstrates increased meaning-making from stressors in emergency medical service clinicians, suggesting the feasibility of digital self-reflection resilience training.
Key Points
Evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a digital self-reflection resilience training intervention on psychological mechanisms and mental health outcomes among emergency medical service clinicians.
Randomized controlled pilot trial assigning eligible emergency medical service clinicians (N = 83) to an 8-day digital self-reflection intervention (n = 37) or control group (n = 46).
Both groups completed 8 daily assessments monitoring hypothesized mechanisms and mental health outcomes; the intervention group received 10 additional open-ended prompts regarding shift stressors and recovery.
Feasibility and acceptability were evaluated with summary statistics and exact tests, while intervention effects across time were assessed using multilevel models.
The intervention group reported significantly more meaning made from stressors across all assessments (b = 1.46, 95% CI: 0.17 to 2.75, p = .027) and over subsequent assessments (b = 0.35, 95% CI: 0.16 to 0.53, p < .001).
Participants with higher intervention adherence demonstrated greater meaning made overall (b = 1.53, 95% CI: 0.03 to 1.02, p = .039) and across subsequent assessments (b = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.06 to 0.20, p < .001).
No statistically significant differences between groups were detected for other hypothesized mechanisms or mental health outcomes, including PTSD, anxiety, and depression symptoms.