The Impact of Intolerance of Uncertainty and Anxiety Sensitivity on Mental Health Among Public Safety Personnel: When the Uncertain is Unavoidable

Background Public safety personnel (PSP; e.g., correctional workers and officers, firefighters, paramedics, police officers, public safety communications officials) are regularly exposed to potentially traumatic events and considerable uncertainty as part of their employment. Canadian PSP screen pos...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognitive therapy and research 2020-10, Vol.44 (5), p.919-930
Main Authors: Angehrn, Andréanne, Krakauer, Rachel L., Carleton, R. Nicholas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anxiety
Clinical Psychology
Cognitive Psychology
Intolerance
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental disorders
Original
Original Article
Personnel
Public safety
Quality of Life Research
Safety
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Summary:Background Public safety personnel (PSP; e.g., correctional workers and officers, firefighters, paramedics, police officers, public safety communications officials) are regularly exposed to potentially traumatic events and considerable uncertainty as part of their employment. Canadian PSP screen positively for mental disorders at much higher rates than the general population. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and anxiety sensitivity (AS) are empirically-supported vulnerability factors associated with the development and maintenance of mental disorders. Methods The present study was designed to assess IU and AS across PSP—a population regularly encountering uncertainty—with and without mental disorders ( n  = 4304; 33.3% women), and across normative clinical, community, and undergraduate samples. Further, the study examined the relationship between IU and AS and mental disorders among PSP. Results There were significant differences across groups on IU and AS scores ( p s 
ISSN:0147-5916
1573-2819
DOI:10.1007/s10608-020-10107-2