Blaney, Leigh
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Item Firefighter Edge: Game-based resilience education for firefighters(WorkSafeBC, 2024-07) Blaney, Leigh; Fell, Robert; Pollard, Emmerson; Agyekum, Eric; Slonowsky, DeanThe overall goal for this project was to develop and test a firefighter resilience education game (to give firefighters an ‘edge’ in making decisions about their mental health). The research questions were: Is game-based resilience education effective in increasing firefighter resilience scores? As well, the research team wanted to explore firefighter perceptions of what they learned and how they are applying learning, and whether their resilience thinking and actions changed as a result of GBL?Item Strengthening the indomitable spirit of nurses through targeted resilience education(Springer, 2024-04-30) Blaney, Leigh; Abbey, Darin; Pollard, Emmerson; Agyekum, Eric; Slonowsky, Dean; Macdonald, AnnaNurses face complex stressors in their work including routine exposure to human suffering and potentially traumatic events. Consequently, nurses are at risk of moral distress, workplace burnout, and compassion fatigue. The aim of this study was to design, develop, and test a health-promoting resilience education program for nurses. The research questions were as follows: (1) Are resilience scores of nurses affected by resilience education? (2) How do nurses understand resilience in the context of their workplace? (3) What role does resilience play in nurses’ mental health? (4) Is single-session targeted resilience education effective in maintaining resilience scores over time? Nurses in this study are moderately resilient as noted by their pre-education scores on the Resilience Scale (RS) and the Resilience at Work (RS@W) Scale. Resilience scores significantly increased immediately after resilience education and were sustained over time. Nurses have an array of health strategies for maintaining their resilience; these were further enhanced through experiential education. Increased resilience scores resulted in changes in nurses’ behavior and thinking, and new strategies were integrated into the nurses’ “toolbox” of cognitive and behavioral skills. Building and sustaining a strong foundation of resilience and well-being is key for nurses to maintain mental health, cope with work-related stressors, and provide safe competent patient care. Study outcomes offer opportunities to change the narrative from nursing as perilous and risky to one of strength, flourish, and growth. Beyond individual resilience, system-level change is required to support the well-being of healthcare personnel.Item Ignite your strengths: Resilience education for firefighters(Crisis, Stress, and Human Resilience: An International Journal, 2023-12) Blaney, Leigh; Spriggs, Geoffrey; Lumley, Joshua; Agyekum, Eric; Slonowsky, Dean; Macdonald, AnnaThis study took an innovative approach to design, develop and test a health promoting resilience education workshop for paid-on-call (POC) firefighters and explored the following questions: (1) Is a resilience education workshop effective for building and maintaining resilience in volunteer firefighters? (2) How do firefighters define and experience resilience? (3) What are the strategies that firefighters use to build and maintain resilience? Firefighters attended a resilience education workshop, and mixed methods were used to explore the complexity of resilience and address the research questions. Participants were asked to complete questionnaires pre-education (Pre-Ed), immediately following the education (Post-Ed), and two months following the education (2 Month Post-Ed). We found that prior to education, firefighters are moderately resilient, as measured using the Resilience Scale (RS) and Resilience at Work (R@W) Scale. Resilience scores on both scales demonstrated statistically significant increases immediately following a resilience education workshop. Qualitative data indicates that firefighters have a wide array of health strategies for building and maintaining their resilience that were further enhanced through experiential education. The workshop introduced new resilience strategies that were integrated into the firefighters’ ‘toolbox’ of cognitive and behavioural skills and these strategies continued to be utilized over time. The results of this study indicate that resilience education should be integrated into organizational health and safety policies. The multiple tools and analyses used in this study support the overal findings that resilience education workshops are an effective tool to be used in a broader wellness context for firefighters.Item Strengthening the indomitable spirit of nurses: Piloting targeted resilience education(Electronic version published by Vancouver Island University, 2022-12) Blaney, Leigh; Abbey, Darin; Zhang, Kelly; Pollard, Emmerson; Agyekum, Eric; Slonowsky, Dean; Macdonald, AnnaThis pilot project aimed to test the effectiveness of a resilience education program for nurses. Building & sustaining a strong foundation of resilience & well-being are key for nurses to maintain mental health, cope with work-related stressors, & effectively respond to various work (& life) challenges.Item Building resilience in volunteer firefighters: Bridging the research to practice gap(WorkSafeBC, 2021-01) Blaney, Leigh; Spriggs, Geoffrey; Lumley, Joshua; Sadlemyer, Jessica; Agyekum, Eric; Slonowsky, DeanThere are approximately 14,000 firefighters in British Columbia (BC); notably, over 10,000 are volunteers or paid-on-call. The volunteer fire rescue services (FRS) globally tend to be vastly under-resourced in terms of equipment, apparatus, and training yet the volunteer FRS are the life-blood of the majority of communities in BC. The FRS is considered a high-risk profession in relation to physical and psychological hazards faced by firefighters as part of their job. Volunteer FRS are challenged to maintain an engaged volunteer membership when the work of firefighters is unpredictable, risky, and takes time away from family, work, and other obligations. Given the multitude of ongoing stressors faced by firefighters, it has become evident that attention must be paid to the mental health of firefighters. However, when assets are scarce and require prioritizing, services to preserve healthy minds are often backgrounded to seemingly more critical choices of gear, equipment, and apparatus. Hence volunteer firefighters are often disadvantaged when it comes to information, education, and initiatives for mental health. The purpose of this research was to create, present, and evaluate the effectiveness of a resilience education programme for volunteer firefighters.