Resilience enhancement interventions for disaster rescue workers: a systematic review

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Disaster Management
• Occupational Health

Background:

• Resilience, the capacity to adapt to stress, is crucial for disaster rescue workers.
• This population faces unique adversities, necessitating targeted support.
• Existing research highlights the need for effective resilience-building strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review interventions designed to enhance the resilience of disaster rescue workers.
• To identify the types, formats, and reported outcomes of these interventions.
• To assess the methodological quality of existing resilience-building programs.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive systematic search of ten electronic databases was conducted up to January 31, 2024.
• Manual searches of reference lists and author searches supplemented the database search.
• Twenty-two studies focusing on resilience enhancement for disaster rescue workers were included.

Main Results:

• Interventions focused on resilience knowledge/skills, stress/energy management, coping, mindfulness, and psychological first aid.
• Common methods included psychoeducation and mindfulness-based training, delivered in group formats (in-person/online).
• Reported benefits included improved individual resilience, coping, social support, mindfulness, and reduced burnout, despite generally suboptimal study quality.

Conclusions:

• Various interventions show promise for enhancing disaster rescue worker resilience.
• Psychoeducation and mindfulness-based training are frequently employed methods.
• Further high-quality, well-designed intervention studies are essential to validate and optimize these approaches.