Dear Canadian public safety communicators,
APCO Canada and researchers from Memorial University have partnered together to deliver an anonymous survey designed to assess operational stress injuries (OSIs) among public safety communicators (e.g., 911, police, fire, and ambulance call-takers and dispatchers, emergency telecommunications). OSIs refer to many different clinically significant mental health symptoms of injury that are often called disorders (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, sleep disorders, substance abuse disorders).
This research will begin a communications-focused assessment of traumatic exposures, OSI symptoms and the associated impacts, on communicators and their families, as well as identifying individual differences in risk and resiliency that may serve as useful avenues for treatment.
For more reasons to participate or if you have any questions, feel free to contact the lead researcher for the study, Dr. Stephen Czarnuch (sczarnuch@mun.ca) 709.864.7850. He is happy to answer any questions.
Please remember that participation is confidential, and no identifying information will be shared with your employer or union or any person. The survey is voluntary and anonymous, so we cannot identify who participated, and your information will be protected. Participating (or choosing not to participate) will not, under any circumstances, impact your relationship with your employer, union, APCO Canada, or the researchers. The intention of this research is to try to understand how Canadian communicators can be best served, and how your needs can be met as we all work towards creating a healthier work environment.
This survey will take approximately 30 – 90 minutes to complete. You will be given a unique code when you first start the survey, and you can stop at any time and return to your survey where you stopped using this code. I encourage all communicators to participate via one of the links below:
Survey (English and French): (https://mun.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_aXfFrsQKdEqgamp)
Thank you!
Stephen Czarnuch, PhD, P.Eng.
Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science /
Discipline of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine
Memorial University of Newfoundland