Interventions Targeting Resistance and Resilience Among Emergency Medical Service Clinicians: A Systematic Review.

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Mental Health Research
• Emergency Medical Services

Background:

• Emergency medical service (EMS) clinicians face significant occupational stress and mental health challenges.
• Promoting resistance and resilience is crucial for supporting the well-being of this workforce.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review the effectiveness and harms of interventions aimed at enhancing resistance and resilience in EMS clinicians.
• To identify evidence-based strategies for addressing mental health and occupational stress in EMS personnel.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review was conducted, searching multiple databases for studies published between 2001 and 2024.
• Seven studies involving 425 EMS clinicians were included, with risk of bias and strength of evidence assessed.
• Interventions targeting resistance or resilience in high-income countries were evaluated.

Main Results:

• Five of the seven included studies had a high risk of bias.
• Mindfulness-based interventions showed a low strength of evidence for reducing burnout in EMS clinicians up to six months post-intervention.
• Insufficient evidence exists for interventions impacting anxiety, depression, or other critical mental health outcomes; no harms were reported.

Conclusions:

• Evidence-based options to improve mental health outcomes for EMS clinicians are currently very limited.
• There is an urgent need for future research to develop effective strategies for EMS clinician mental health and occupational stress.
• Current interventions show minimal impact on a range of serious mental health concerns and workforce retention issues.