title: An analogue trial of inoculation/resilience training for emergency services personnel: proof of concept.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This analogue study served as a proof of concept trial for inoculation/resilience training with emergency services personnel.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty people from the general community participated in a randomized controlled trial of inoculation training to increase resilience in the mitigation of stress and trauma-type symptomatology following a stressful video of paramedics attending the scene of a car accident. Participants were randomly allocated to one of two conditions: (a) resilience training, where the participants received strategies aimed at reducing the negative effects of the event; or (b) a control 'pragmatic training' condition, where participants received practical training about what to do in the event of a car accident. A week later the full video was shown. All participants were assessed one month later.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Unlike with past studies which tested psychological debriefing, analyses revealed that inoculation/resilience training did not appear to have deleterious effects on psychological distress measures or memory performance. Participants who received the resilience training displayed improvements in negative affect (notable trends in depression and stress levels) suggesting a more general positive result from the intervention than normal 'pragmatic training'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This was an analogue trial and a full field trial is warranted.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With organisations wishing to engage in resilience training, this analogue study suggests that inoculation training at least does no harm and may be beneficial. It is, therefore, a viable option for emergency services personnel during pre-deployment training.
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Tracey
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Varker
authors.forename: Grant J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Devilly
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003419:Crisis Intervention / Q000379:methods*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D015397:Program Evaluation; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014743:Videotape Recording; D055815:Young Adult