Change in Firefighter Cadet Mental Skills Use before and after Mental Skills Training Workshops

College of Health Professions & Science, Ebersole, Nathan, Mentor, Meyer, Barbara, Outstanding Presentation, Poster Presentation, School and College, School of Rehabilitation Sciences & Technology, Student

Nathan Ebersole, “Change in Firefighter Cadet Mental Skills Use before and after Mental Skills Training Workshops”
Mentor: Barbara Meyer, Rehabilitation Sciences & Technology
Poster #55

The mental demands of firefighting and other tactical professions are well documented. Without proper training and use of mental skills, these demands may result in decreased job performance as well as increased injury or even death (Gnacinski et al., 2015). While it has been reported that military recruits’ use of mental skills increases following mental skills training interventions (Fitzwater et al., 2017), and that mental skills training can improve task-specific performance in military personnel (Jensen et al., 2020), research is scant regarding the effectiveness of mental skills training and use in the fire service. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to describe firefighter cadets’ use of mental skills before and after participation in a series of educational mental skills training workshops. A sample of 52 firefighter cadets (43 male, 8 female, 1 non-binary/third gender; 18.38 ± 0.58 years) completed pre- and post- workshop assessments to indicate use of ten different mental skills following participation in a series of five mental skills training workshops. After obtaining descriptive statistics, a series of independent-samples t-tests were calculated to identify significant differences in mental skills use before and after the educational workshops. An appropriate Bonferroni correction was applied (.05/10 = .005). Results indicated increased use of eight of ten mental skills following completion of the mental skills training workshops. Significant increases between pre- and post- workshop mental skills use were found in two of the mental skills (i.e., relaxation and self-talk). Findings of the study indicate an overall increase in mental skills use by firefighter cadets following participation in a series of mental skills training workshops. Implications for future research and professional practice will be discussed.