Evaluation of Clinician Vs Peer-Counsellor delivered Emotional and Relationship Skills based intervention for Veterans, ADF members, and First Responder Personnel

The aim of this mixed-methods longitudinal study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a modified group program known as STAIR (Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation, Cloitre et al. 2015) for Military, Veteran, Police and First Responder personnel. Ninety-three participants were enrolled in the 12-week course between 2018-2019 and included personnel from SAPOL, South Australia Metropolitan Fire Service, and the Police Association of South Australia. Mates4Mates ran programs in Hobart, Brisbane and Townsville.

All participants completed a baseline battery of self-report mental health questionnaires prior to and for several months following the program to provide an indication of treatment related change. These included the Kessler 10 (K10), a 10-item screening measure of psychological distress, the seven-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale to screen for anxiety symptoms, the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to screen for depressive symptoms, the 20-item PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) to screen for PTSD symptoms, the Dimensions of Anger Reactions (DAR-5) scale, a five-item screening measure to assess anger frequency, intensity, and duration and anger’s perceived negative impact on social relationships and four items to examine suicidal ideation, plans, and behavior adapted from the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing.