Conestoga’s Canadian Institute for Safety, Wellness & Performance (CISWP) will launch a new complimentary webinar series on July 19 to provide stakeholders across Canada and around the world an opportunity to learn more about evidence-informed strategies to support the mental health of paramedics during infectious public health crises.
Last year, CISWP was awarded funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council on behalf of the College and Community Innovation Program - Applied Research Rapid Response to COVID-19. The project aims to develop a guideline for addressing the mental health impacts of COVID-19 among Canadian paramedics.
CISWP has been working with the paramedic community on three research projects over the past five years to improve the performance, health, safety and well-being of Canadian paramedics.
In this webinar series, CISWP researchers will discuss the state of the research pertaining to mental health among paramedics during infectious public health crises. They will also present the new evidence-informed guideline for paramedic service organizations to address operational stress injuries during these crises.
Webinars run from 12-1 p.m. EST and are scheduled for July 19 and August 2, 16 and 30. Descriptions for each session follow.
For more information, contact info.ciswp@conestogac.on.ca.
July 19: Organizational strategies to address mental health during infectious public health crises: knowledge synthesis
- In this webinar, CISWP will present findings from a systematic review of the literature pertaining to the mental health of paramedics during infectious public health crises. Speakers will also discuss how these findings were used to build upon CISWP’s previous research to develop the Guideline for Addressing Operational Stress Injuries (OSI) during Infectious Public Health Crises
- Speaker: Bronson Du, research scientist, Canadian Institute for Safety, Wellness & Performance
- Register through Zoom
August 2: Experiences from the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic
- This webinar presents findings from a qualitative study conducted to inform to the development of the Guideline for Addressing Operational Stress Injuries during infectious public health crises. In this webinar, CISWP will present key informants’ perspectives and experiences on how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the landscape of paramedic work, the unique stressors brought on at the onset of the pandemic, and the mitigation strategies that paramedic service organizations have implemented to support the mental health of their workforce.
- Speaker: Bronson Du, research scientist, Canadian Institute for Safety, Wellness & Performance
- Register through Zoom
August 16: Introducing the Guide for paramedic service organizations to address operational stress Injuries during infectious public health crises
- This webinar will present the new evidence-informed guideline for paramedic service organizations to address operational stress injuries during infectious public health crises. Speakers will discuss how to approach and integrate the guideline into existing organizational initiatives. In addition, the presenters will go over ten core elements of the guideline and provide pandemic-specific takeaways for addressing operational stress injuries.
- Speakers: Bronson Du, research scientist, Canadian Institute for Safety, Wellness & Performance; and Dr. Amin Yazdani, director, Canadian Institute for Safety, Wellness & Performance
- Register through Zoom
August 30: Ensuring organizational readiness and resilience for future infectious public health crises
- In this webinar, speakers will discuss strategies to support organizational readiness to protect and support the mental health of paramedics in future pandemics. This webinar explains how the guideline should be adopted by paramedic service organizations in order to lay the foundations for organizational resiliency and build an integrated management system to minimize the impacts of operational stress injuries and prepare for future infectious public health crises.
- Speakers: Bronson Du, research scientist, Canadian Institute for Safety, Wellness & Performance; and Dr. Amin Yazdani, director, Canadian Institute for Safety, Wellness & Performance
- Register through Zoom