# Peer Delivered, Emotion Regulation-Focused Mental Health Prevention Training for Fire Fighter Trainees

> **NIH ALLCDC R01** · BAYLOR RESEARCH INSTITUTE · 2024 · $569,558

## Abstract

About 1.1 million firefighters (FFs; 350,000 professional or paid, 750,000 volunteers) protect
Americans, their households, businesses, highways, and wildlands, performing emergency
response despite significant risk to their own health and well-being. Even though FFs are
screened for mental health risk upon entry into the profession, a substantial minority develop
mental health problems during fire careers including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
problematic alcohol use, depression, and anxiety. As might be expected with elevated rates of
mental health conditions, suicide risk is a major concern among FFs. In sum, the occupational
stress of fire service contributes to the early mortality of FFs who die 2 years earlier than other
American males. It is imperative that FFs are equipped with more effective emotion regulation
skills upon entry into the profession to buffer against the varied stressors that they will face.
Waiting until mental health challenges emerge is a flawed approach. Barriers to mental health
treatment seeking for FFs are numerous; FFs would benefit most from training in emotion
regulation skills delivered by credible peers upon entry and socialization into the profession.
This would likely prevent substantial negative outcomes downstream while promoting resilience
and wellness. Training to prevent development of PTSD, alcohol misuse, and other commonly
co-occurring mental health challenges should be transdiagnostic, focusing on the underlying
mechanism of emotion regulation. The proposed project is the next logical step in our line of
research whose long-range goal is to translate significant scientific findings to prevent the
development of disabling mental health challenges in FFs. Our central hypothesis is that peer-
delivered Brief Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (BUP),
delivered during the fire academy, will prevent the development of PTSD and related mental
health outcomes. We will conduct a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) to compare peer-
delivered BUP to peer-delivered psychoeducation regarding mental health (PSYED) to small
groups of FF trainees during the fire academy for preventing symptoms of PTSD, alcohol
misuse, depression, anxiety, and functional impairment over time in new FFs. We will test
whether changes in neuroticism and emotion regulation mediate the effect of BUP on the
outcomes. This would be the first RCT of a mental health prevention intervention in FF recruits,
an important but understudied group with frequent trauma exposure and the first delivered by
peers. If successful, this approach would provide a culturally competent, scalable approach to
promoting resilience, thereby preventing work-related psychological injuries.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10912421
- **Project number:** 5R01OH012577-02
- **Recipient organization:** BAYLOR RESEARCH INSTITUTE
- **Principal Investigator:** SUZY B GULLIVER
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $569,558
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-01 → 2027-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10912421

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10912421, Peer Delivered, Emotion Regulation-Focused Mental Health Prevention Training for Fire Fighter Trainees (5R01OH012577-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10912421. Licensed CC0.

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