The two-year study coordinated by UNE’s Senior Lecturer in Nursing Dr Rikki Jones is one of only a few studies to consider the mental health of thousands of frontline staff and volunteers serving rural and regional communities. It will be conducted by early career researchers in collaboration with the Black Dog Institute and researchers and mentors from UNE, Charles Sturt University, Sydney University and Griffith University.
“We know that attending difficult and violent situations can result in secondary trauma for first responders,” said Dr Jones. “In rural areas, where there are fewer personnel, they often experience an additional level of trauma because they know the mental health clients, and the victims of the domestic violence, car accidents, murders and child drownings they attend. There are also fewer services to help them manage and, if left untreated, exposure to trauma and violence can lead to increased anxiety and depression, PTSD, panic disorders, substance misuse disorders and suicide ideation.”
Dr Jones hopes the research team will identify better health management strategies. “That trauma will always be a part of the job, but we need to learn how to deal with it proactively, so we don’t have first responders burning out and leaving the profession,” she said. “We already have shortages of first responders in rural areas, so we need to understand what health support is available to them, what has been accessed in the past and what more is needed. Ideally, we would like to develop a set of national guidelines or recommendations for rural Australia.”
An expert panel comprising first responders from police, paramedic, SES and fire and rescue services, and the healthcare workers providing mental health support to them, will contribute to the research.
Dr Jones first began working in the first responder space when she embarked on her PhD at UNE in 2018. “For me, being a rural health clinician, I know that rural health needs to be delivered differently; we need mental health support tailored specifically to first responders in rural and remote areas,” she said. “We know that recent natural disasters – floods, droughts and bushfires, and the COVID pandemic – have increased the stress and emotional distress experienced by first responders. We need to better understand how to overcome or alleviate their experience.”
