Daily survey participation and positive changes in mental health symptom scores among Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cadets

Robyn E Shields; Taylor A Teckchandani; Gordon J G Asmundson; Jolan Nisbet; Rachel L Krakauer; Katie L Andrews; Kirby Q Maguire; Laleh Jamshidi; Tracie O Afifi; Lisa M Lix; Alain Brunet; Shannon Sauer-Zavala; Gregory P Krätzig; J Patrick Neary; Jitender Sareen; R Nicholas Carleton

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1145194

Daily survey participation and positive changes in mental health symptom scores among Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cadets

Front Psychol. 2023 Aug 4:14:1145194. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1145194. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Robyn E Shields^{1

2}, Taylor A Teckchandani¹, Gordon J G Asmundson², Jolan Nisbet¹, Rachel L Krakauer², Katie L Andrews¹, Kirby Q Maguire¹, Laleh Jamshidi¹, Tracie O Afifi³, Lisa M Lix³, Alain Brunet⁴, Shannon Sauer-Zavala⁵, Gregory P Krätzig⁶, J Patrick Neary⁷, Jitender Sareen⁸, R Nicholas Carleton^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment (CIPSRT), University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada.
² Anxiety and Illness Behaviours Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada.
³ Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
⁴ McGill's Psychiatry Department and Douglas Institute Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States.
⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada.
⁷ Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.

Abstract

Introduction: Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers self-report high levels of mental health disorder symptoms, such as alcohol use disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, panic disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Participation in regular mental health monitoring has been associated with improved mental health disorder symptom reporting and may provide an accessible tool to support RCMP mental health. The current study assessed relationships between self-reported mental health disorder symptoms and the completion of daily surveys (i.e., daily mental health disorder symptom monitoring) by RCMP cadets during the Cadet Training Program (CTP).

Methods: Participants were RCMP cadets (n = 394; 76.1% men) in the Standard Training Program who completed the 26-week CTP and daily self-monitoring surveys, as well as full mental health assessments at pre-training (i.e., starting the CTP) and pre-deployment (i.e., ~2 weeks prior to deployment to the field). Symptoms of alcohol use disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, panic disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder were assessed. Changes in mental health disorder symptom reporting from pre-training to pre-deployment were calculated. Spearman's rank correlations were estimated for number of daily surveys completed and change in mental health disorder symptom scores between pre-training and pre-deployment.

Results: There were statistically significant inverse relationships between number of daily surveys completed and number of mental health disorder symptoms reported; specifically, cadets who completed more daily surveys during CTP reported fewer symptoms of alcohol use disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, panic disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Conclusion: An inverse correlation between number of daily surveys completed and mental health disorder symptom scores indicated that participation in daily mental health monitoring was associated with improvements in self-reported mental health disorder symptoms between pre-training and pre-deployment. Regular self-monitoring of mental health disorder symptoms may help to mitigate mental health challenges among RCMP cadets and officers.

Keywords: Royal Canadian Mounted Police; cadets; mental health disorder symptoms; mental health monitoring; self-report.