Gregory S. Anderson

Thompson Rivers University · Faculty of Science

BACKGROUND Law enforcement officers are routinely exposed to hazardous, disturbing events that can impose severe stress and long-term potential psychological trauma. As a result, police and other public safety personnel (PSP) are at increased risk of developing posttraumatic stress injuries (PTSI) and disruptions to the autonomic nervous system (AN...

Public safety personnel (PSP) are known to experience difficult and demanding occupational environments, an environment that has been complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Firefighters, paramedics, and public safety communicators were among the front-line workers that continued to serve the public throughout the course of the pandemic. The present...

Background: Public safety personnel (PSP; e.g., border services personnel, correctional workers, firefighters, paramedics, police, public safety communicators) are frequently exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events. Such events contribute to substantial and growing challenges from posttraumatic stress injuries (PTSIs), including bu...

Public Safety Personnel (PSP), including members of the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and Conservation and Protection (C&P) officers, are regularly exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs) and other occupational stressors (organizational and operational stressors). The current study quantified occupational stressors among CCG an...

The current study provides estimates of suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts among Canadian Coast Guard personnel and Canadian Conservation and Protection Officers. Participants (n = 385; 59% men) completed a self-report survey that collected past-year and lifetime estimates of suicidal ideation, planning, attempts, sociodemographic informatio...

Public Safety Personnel (PSP) including members of the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and Conservation and Protection (C&P) officers, are regularly exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs) and other occupational stressors. Several mental health training programs (e.g., critical incident stress management [CISM], critical incident...

Background Public safety personnel (PSP) are exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTE) far more often than the general public, which increases the risk for various post-traumatic stress injuries (PTSIs). While there are many evidence-based psychological interventions for PTSI, the effectiveness of each intervention for PSP rema...

Canadian public safety personnel (PSP) screen positive for one or more mental health disorders, based on self-reported symptoms, at a prevalence much greater (i.e., 44.5%) than the diagnostic prevalence for the general public (10.1%). Potentially psychologically traumatic event (PPTE) exposures and occupational stressors increase the risks of devel...

Canadian Public Safety Personnel (PSP) (i.e., municipal/provincial police, firefighters, paramedics, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, correctional workers, dispatchers) report frequent and varied exposures to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs). Exposure to PPTEs may be one explanation for the symptoms of mental health disorders prev...

Background—Public safety personnel (PSP) are at heightened risk of developing mental health challenges due to exposures to diverse stressors including potentially psychologically traumatic experiences. An increased focus on protecting PSP mental health has prompted demand for interventions designed to enhance resilience. While hundreds of available...

The families of public safety personnel (PSP) face demands that are unique to these occupations. Nonstandard work, trauma exposure, and dangerous work environments affect both workers and the families who support them. This narrative review aims to identify the stressors that PSP families experience and the support and resources needed to enhance f...

Public safety personnel (PSP) are frequently exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs) which can impact mental health. To help mitigate the negative effects of PPTEs, PSP commonly rely on peer support. Peer support generally refers to a wide variety of mental health resources that offer social or emotional assistance to a peer...

Public safety personnel (PSP) experience a disproportionately high number of on-the-job stressors compared to the general population. PSP develop self-initiated actions, or coping strategies , that either confront the situation (approach strategies) or avoid the situation (avoidance strategies) to reduce the impact of stressors on their well-being....

Introduction Knowledge about the factors that contribute to the correctional officer’s (CO) mental health and well-being, or best practices for improving the mental health and well-being of COs, have been hampered by the dearth of rigorous longitudinal studies. In the current protocol, we share the approach used in the Canadian Correctional Workers...

This survey was the basis of the article: Anderson, G.S., B. Elliott and N. Woods. The Canadian personal training survey. The Journal of Exercise Physiology: Online. 13(5):19-28, 2010.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a self-paced online resilience training program on promoting personal resilience and positive coping styles, while reducing the severity of anxiety- and depression-related symptoms, in a sample of BScN students (N = 70) studying to become registered nurses. Using a repeated-measures...

Background Public safety personnel and frontline healthcare professionals are at increased risk of exposure to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTE) and developing posttraumatic stress injuries (PTSI, e.g., depression, anxiety) by the nature of their work. PTSI are also linked to increased absenteeism, suicidality, and performance dec...

Brief mental health disorder screening questionnaires (SQs) are used by psychiatrists, physicians, researchers, psychologists, and other mental health professionals and may provide an efficient method to guide clinicians to query symptom areas requiring further assessment. For example, annual screening has been used to help identify military person...

Background Public safety personnel (PSP) are exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTE) far more often than the general public, which increases the risk for various posttraumatic stress injuries (PTSIs). There are many evidence-based psychological interventions for PTSI, but whether the interventions benefit PSP despite the repe...

Public safety personnel (PSP) are routinely exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs) that, in turn, can result in posttraumatic stress injuries (PTSI), including burnout and increased symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, the longitudinal impact of PPTEs on PSP coping remains unclear. Coping can be operationalized as v...

Public safety personnel (PSP) and frontline healthcare professionals (FHP) are frequently exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs), and report increased rates of post-traumatic stress injuries (PTSIs). Despite widespread implementation and repeated calls for research, effectiveness evidence for organizational post-exposure PT...

Purpose: To synthesize recent empirical research investigating memory of stressful critical incidents (both simulated and occurring in the field) among law enforcement officers. Design: Systematic state-of-the-art review. Findings: 20 studies of police and military officers show reduced detail and accuracy of high-versus low-stress incidents, esp...

Purpose: To synthesize recent empirical research investigating memory of stressful critical incidents (both simulated and occurring in the field) among law enforcement officers. Design: Systematic state-of-the-art review. Findings: 20 studies of police and military officers show reduced detail and accuracy of high-versus low-stress incidents, espec...

Background: Social support may be a protective factor for the mental health of public safety personnel (PSP), who are frequently exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events and report substantial post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) symptoms. Research examining perceived social support and its assoc...

Introduction Paramedics are routinely exposed to traumatic incidents that include physical injuries; these events may manifest into psychosocial injury. Proactive and preventive measures have the potential to mitigate the negative impact of exposure to traumatic events. Enhancing an individual’s capacity to effectively manage stressful/adverse life...

Poor sleep quality is associated with numerous mental health concerns and poorer overall physical health. Sleep disturbances are commonly reported by public safety personnel (PSP) and may contribute to the risk of developing mental disorders or exacerbate mental disorder symptoms. The current investigation was designed to provide estimates of sleep...

Background: Recent investigations have demonstrated a significant prevalence of mental health disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicidal ideation, plans and attempts among Canadian public safety personnel, including police officers. What remains unknown is the relationship between mental disorders and suicide among sw...

Public Safety Personnel (PSP; e.g., correctional workers and officers, firefighters, paramedics, police officers, and public safety communications officials (e.g., call center operators/dispatchers)) are regularly exposed to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTEs). PSP also experience other occupational stressors, including organizatio...

Aim/Purpose To inclusively consider the diversity within student gender-identification at post-secondary institutions, we investigate expanding gender self-identification options on admissions forms; often the first point of student contact with campuses. Background Even if inspired and motivated by inclusion, many of the gender categories in use...

Investigations of police performance during acutely stressful situations have primarily focused on higher-order cognitive processes like attention, affect or emotion and decision-making, and the behavioral outcomes of these processes, such as errors in lethal force. However, behavioral outcomes in policing must be understood as a combination of bot...

Resilience is a significant focus regarding the mental health of public health service workers in Canada. It is also a centre of attention in current nursing research worldwide. Included in this are a broad range of definitions, experiences and approaches to the research itself and to supporting the development of resilience in nurses and nursing s...

Within the context of this rapidly evolving legal and policy landscape, researchers of the Justice Institute of British Columbia, the University of Ottawa and the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment have carried out a scholarly and stakeholder-informed analysis of the application of workers’ compensation law and policy for P...

Public Safety Personnel (PSP; e.g. correctional workers, dispatchers, firefighters, paramedics, police) are frequently exposed to potentially traumatic events (PTEs). Several mental health training program categories (e.g. critical incident stress management (CISM), debriefing, peer support, psychoeducation, mental health first aid, Road to Mental...

Canadian Public Safety Personnel (e.g., correctional workers, dispatchers, firefighters, paramedics, and police) are regularly exposed to potentially traumatic events, some of which are highlighted as critical incidents warranting additional resources. Unfortunately, available Canadian public safety personnel data measuring associations between pot...

Police agencies increasingly implement training programs to protect mental health. The Road to Mental Readiness (R2MR) program was designed by the Canadian military to increase mental health resilience. A version of R2MR was adapted for municipal police by the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC). The current research was designed to assess th...

Colleges and Institutes have increased their applied research and innovation efforts over the last couple of decades, with rapid growth following the creation of the federal Tri-Council College and Community Innovation funding program. Colleges and Institutes are well situated to provide regional support for small to medium sized enterprises (SME)...

Executive Summary: Physical engagement with suspects and other parties is part of the job of being a police officer. However, in some cases, police officers will be physically assaulted and such offences fall under S.270 of the Criminal Code of Canada. Though a considerable amount of international research exists in this domain, like other areas of...

Introduction This article presents a framework for describing four dimensions of paramedic practice: Practitioners, Practice Setting, Care and Patient Disposition. The framework emerged from a qualitative study conducted to identify potential research directions and opportunities to advance paramedicine and paramedic education at Justice Institute...

The present study examined the impact of a 6- to 8-hour, self-paced online resiliency training program to help students training to be Primary Care Paramedics (PCP) mitigate the risks associated with working in a trauma informed work setting. Of the 138 participants, 88 were male and 30 were female, with a mean age of 25.5 years. Of these, 81 stude...

The Building Resilient Communities Workshop was hosted and organized by the Justice Institute of British Columbia, with the support of Emergency Management British Columbia and the Canadian Safety and Security Program, Defence Research and Development Canada, Centre for Security Science. Thirty-four participants from multiple levels of government,...

While the scope of the term physical employment standards is wide, the principal focus of this paper is on standards related to physiological evaluation of readiness for work. Common applications of such employment standards for work are in public safety and emergency response occupations (e.g., police, firefighting, military), and there is an ever...

Firearm qualification is a well-established and apparently credible manner that departments and law enforcement agencies attest to officer competence. Police managers rely on officer’s qualification scores as an indicator of their ability to function in a critical incident in the field. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of prior...

Anybody born after 1982 has had access to, and even immersion in, a networked world of digital technology. This group of people has been variously referred to as Digital Natives, Millennials, and the Net Generation and is assumed by many to be fundamentally different from previous generations (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008; Tapscott, 2009) to the point...

The Rural Disaster Resilience Handbook was produced by a team of researchers affiliated with the Justice Institute of British Columbia, Canada, as a guide for rural, remote and coastal communities to build virtual communities of practice for disaster management and resilience.

Disaster resilience is the cornerstone of effective emergency management across all phases of a disaster from preparedness through response and recovery. To support community resilience planning in the Rural Disaster Resilience Project (RDRP) Planning Framework, a print-based version of the guide book and a suite of resilience planning tools were f...

Current data provides strong support for the present configuration in the PARE. While consideration should be given to the enhancement of the PARE, the current and previous task analysis do support the test in its actual format and representative or very representative of police work in the 21st century.

Study/Objective: The Building Resilient Communities workshop brought together key stakeholders in Canadian community resilience planning with the goal of sharing their experiences and developing concrete strategies to support ongoing and emerging initiatives in community and disaster resilience planning. Background: The importance of disaster and c...

Study/Objective: This paper reports selected findings from an applied research study by the Justice Institute of British Columbia that explored current conceptions of the terms, roles, boundaries, and future directions of Canadian EMS, and identified key issues and problems facing stakeholders in Canadian EMS education. Background: Modern EMS emerg...

The purpose of this work was to examine the contribution of student research to learning and student success, and outline a student Research Skills Development Framework (RSDF) for the Justice Institute of British Columbia to use to guide the research skills development of their students. Recommendations for appropriate student research projects at...

Results demonstrated a significant improvement in the paramedic students’ resiliency following the online training. These positive results suggest that resiliency education during paramedic training programs have significant impact on students who are placed into on-the-job pre-employment training. The possibility that such training could have posi...

Background: Data from around the world would suggest that attention to safety during work-related driving should be a priority as traffic accidents are the leading cause of work-related injury, death and absence from work in many countries. Purpose: This study examines the characteristics of the grey fleet (those who drive personal vehicles for the...

Multiple data sets and surveys would suggest that the size of the Grey Fleet in British Columbia is substantial, and that many incidents are not reported or claimed as work-related. Further, employers who use Grey Fleets are not certain of their legal requirements under Worker’s Compensation Act (duty of care), and in response education and trainin...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report progress concerning the design of a computer-assisted simulation training (CAST) platform for developing decision-making skills in police students. The overarching aim is to outline a theoretical framework for the design of CAST to facilitate police students’ development of search techniques in compl...

Purpose – The use of web-enhanced teaching of the English as a foreign language in higher education in Greece is addressed in this case study which examines the student's perceptions of online instruction using Moodle as a learning management system (LMS), with and without the use of Facebook (FB) as an adjunctive learning platform. The merging of...

The goal of the RDRP Project is to develop and pilot a participatory, community-centered process for engaging rural, remote and small coastal (RCC) communities in disaster risk reduction planning at the local level with a focus on enhancing local capacity and capability. The participatory approach to the research is designed to support the engageme...

Disaster resilience is the cornerstone of effective emergency management across all phases of a disaster from preparedness through response and recovery. To support community resilience planning in the Rural Disaster Resilience Project (RDRP) Planning Framework , a print-based version of the guide book and a suite of resilience planning tools were...

Pre-event massage may inhibit neural drive and spinal reflexes used in jumping for a short period following a massage, but significantly increase performance for a period following. However, more research needs to be conducted on massage localization and duration in order to further see the effects of pre-event massage on performance.

Dynamic warm-ups that are designed to elevate core body temperature, increase motor unit excitability, improve kinesthetic awareness and maximize active ranges of motion contribute to increased muscle force production, increased performance, and have the potential to reduce injuries.

Background: The Justice Institute of British Columbia’s Rural Disaster Resilience Project (RDRP), funded by the Canadian Security Science Program, developed and piloted a participatory, community-centered process for engaging rural, remote and coastal (RCC) communities in disaster risk resilience planning at the local level with a focus on enhancin...

Disaster Resilience - the ability to survive and thrive in the face of uncertainty - is the foundation of rural life. It is also the cornerstone of effective emergency management across all phases of a disaster from preparedness through response and recovery. There is much to learn about resilience from remote, rural, and coastal communities; their...

Immediate resuscitation is necessary in order to achieve conscious survival for persons who have lost airways or pulses. However, current literature suggests that even in medically-trained personnel, CPR skills are forgotten shortly after certification. HYPOTHESIS/PROBLEM: The purpose of this study was to determine the CPR skill and knowledge decay...

Assessing risks and building resilience for disasters in rural, remote and coastal communities www.rdrp.ca

Recent literature states that many necessary skills of CPR and first aid are forgotten shortly after certification. The purpose of this study was to determine the skill and knowledge decay in first aid in those who are paid to respond to emergency situations within a workplace. Using a choking victim scenario, the sequence and accuracy of events we...

This experiment examined muscle activation measured using electromyography (EMG) during a standardized push-up performed on stable and unstable surfaces. Fifteen highly trained participants performed four push-ups: standard (hands and feet on the floor), either the hands or feet on an unstable surface (single instability), and with both hands and f...

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent of, and factors related to, lower back pain (LBP) in municipal police officers. Officers (n=30) completed a multi-categorical questionnaire investigating factors associated with LBP, and the Oswestry Disability Questionnaire. Of the 21 officers returning complete data, 86% reported having back pai...