Browsing by Author "Hozempa, Kadie"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5

Open Access
Canadian Provincial and Territorial Correctional Worker Mental Health and Well-Being Study (CWMH): Navigating Practical and Unanticipated Methodological Challenges
(SAGE Publications, 2024-10-08) Ricciardelli, Rosemary; Andres, Elizabeth; Johnston, Matthew S.; Taillieu, Tamara L.; Dorniani, Sahar; Carbonell, Marina; Bennett, Brittany; Hozempa, Kadie; Coulling, Ryan; Cassiano, Marcella Siqueira; Afifi, Tracie O.; Carleton, R. Nicholas
Previous research assessing correctional worker (CW) mental health has seldom assessed for differences based on jurisdiction or diverse occupational categories. The current study was designed to provide a nuanced quantitative examination of mental health disorder prevalence and related problems among CWs and to qualitatively explore the varying social contexts surrounding CW well-being. We reflect on how we overcame unanticipated challenges and disruptions (e.g., technology, COVID-19 pandemic) throughout the design, launch, and analysis of the survey, and illustrate how our national study, driven by a rigorous methodological approach and collaborative research design, builds on the extant CW mental health and wellness literature.
Open Access
Incidental statistical summary representation over time
(Arvo, 2016-02-01) Oriet, Chris; Hozempa, Kadie
Information taken in by the human visual system allows individuals to form statistical representations of sets of items. One's knowledge of natural categories includes statistical information, such as average size of category members and the upper and lower boundaries of the set. Previous research suggests that when subjects attend to a particular dimension of a set of items presented over an extended duration, they quickly learn about the central tendency of the set. However, it is unclear whether such learning can occur incidentally, when subjects are not attending to the relevant dimension of the set. The present study explored whether subjects could reproduce global statistical properties of a set presented over an extended duration when oriented to task-irrelevant properties of the set. Subjects were tested for their memory of its mean, its smallest and largest exemplars, the direction of its skew, and the relative distribution of the items. Subjects were able to accurately recall the average size circle, as well as the upper and lower boundaries of a set of 4,200 circles displayed over an extended period. This suggests that even without intending to do so, they were encoding and updating a statistical summary representation of a task-irrelevant attribute of the circles over time. Such incidental encoding of statistical properties of sets is thus a plausible mechanism for establishing a representation of typicality in category membership.
Open Access
A longitudinal assessment of the road to mental readiness training among municipal police
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2018-06-18) Carleton, R. Nicholas; Korol, Stephanie; Mason, Julia, E.; Hozempa, Kadie; Anderson, Gregory S.; Jones, Nicholas A.; Dobson, Keith S.; Szeto, Andrew; Bailey, Suzanne
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 the R2MR program, as adapted and delivered by the MHCC, in a municipal police sample. Participants were 147 Canadian police agency employees (57% women) who received a single R2MR training session. Participants completed pre- and post-training self-report questionnaires, and follow-ups at 6 and 12 months. The questionnaires assessed mental health symptoms, work engagement, resiliency, mental health knowledge, and stigma. Multilevel modeling analyses assessed for within-participant changes over time. The results were consistent with other single session interventions; specifically, there were no significant changes in mental health symptoms, resilience, or work engagement (p > .05). There were small, but significant (p < .05), reductions in stigma at post-training that may facilitate help-seeking among police; relatedly, in open-ended response fields, participants commonly described the training as helpful for changing attitudes and improving communication. More engagement with the material may produce larger, sustained gains, but more published research is critically needed.
Open Access
Mental Disorder Symptoms among Public Safety Personnel in Canada
(SAGE Publications, 2017-08-28) Carleton, R. Nicholas; Afifi, Tracie O.; Turner, Sarah; Taillieu, Tamara L.; Duranceau, Sophie; LeBouthillier, Daniel, M.; Sareen, Jitender; Ricciardelli, Rosemary; MacPhee, Renée, S.; Groll, Dianne; Hozempa, Kadie; Brunet, Alain; Weekes, John R.; Griffiths, Curt T.; Abrams, Kelly J.; Jones, Nicholas A.; Beshai, Shadi; Cramm, Heidi; Dobson, Keith S.; Hatcher, Simon; Keane, Terence M.; Stewart, Sherry H.; Asmundson, Gordon J.G.
Canadian public safety personnel (PSP; e.g., correctional workers, dispatchers, firefighters, paramedics, police officers) are exposed to potentially traumatic events as a function of their work. Such exposures contribute to the risk of developing clinically significant symptoms related to mental disorders. The current study was designed to provide estimates of mental disorder symptom frequencies and severities for Canadian PSP.
Open Access
Mental Health Training, Attitudes Towards Support, and Screening Positive for Mental Disorders
(Taylor and Francis Group, 2019-02-22) Carleton, R. Nicholas; Afifi, Tracie O.; Turner, Sarah; Taillieu, Tamara L.; Vaughan, Adam V.; Anderson, Gregory S.; Ricciardelli, Rosemary; MacPhee, Renée, S.; Cramm, Heidi; Czarnuch, Stephen; Hozempa, Kadie; Camp, Ronald D.
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 Readiness [R2MR]) exist as efforts to minimize the impact of exposures, often using cognitive behavioral therapy model content, but with limited effectiveness research. The current study assessed PSP perceptions of access to professional (i.e. physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, employee assistance programs, chaplains) and non-professional (i.e. spouse, friends, colleagues, leadership) support, and associations between training and mental health. Participants included 4,020 currently serving PSP participants. Data were analyzed using cross-tabulations and logistic regressions. Most PSP reported access to professional and non-professional support; nevertheless, most would first access a spouse (74%) and many would never, or only as a last resort, access professional support (43–60%) or PSP leaders (67%). Participation in any mental health training category was associated with lower (p < .01) rates for some, but not all, mental disorders, with no robust differences across categories. Revisions to training programs may improve willingness to access professional support; in the interim, training and support for PSP spouses and leaders may also be beneficial.