{"id":471,"date":"2023-02-26T05:50:50","date_gmt":"2023-02-26T05:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/?p=471"},"modified":"2023-02-26T05:51:11","modified_gmt":"2023-02-26T05:51:11","slug":"a-peek-behind-the-study-with-niklas-breindahl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/2023\/02\/26\/a-peek-behind-the-study-with-niklas-breindahl\/","title":{"rendered":"A PEEK BEHIND THE STUDY \u2026 WITH NIKLAS BREINDAHL"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Breindahl<\/span> N<\/span>, Strange<\/span> KF<\/span>, \u00d8stergaard<\/span> D<\/span><\/span>, et al.\u00a0<\/span>Evaluation of a critical incident management system on mental health in lifeguard organisations: a retrospective study.\u00a0BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine <\/span>2023;<\/span>9:<\/span>e001499. <\/span>doi:<\/span> 10.1136\/bmjsem-2022-001499<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

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The full paper can be found here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Tell us more about yourself and the author team<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

My name is Niklas Breindahl. I am a medical doctor and PhD student from Denmark<\/span> currently involved in various aspects o<\/span>f<\/span>drowning research. I have worked as a professional surf lifeguard <\/span>in TrygFonden Surf Lifesaving Denmark with <\/span>psychologist <\/span>Kirstine<\/span> Strange <\/span>Friderichsen<\/span>. I <\/span>now <\/span>hold the position <\/span>of Chief Medical Officer at TrygFonden Surf Lifesaving Denmark<\/span>. <\/span>Doris <\/span>\u00d8stergaard<\/span> is a medical education professor and <\/span>debriefing <\/span>expert<\/span>; <\/span>Helle<\/span> Collatz<\/span> Christensen is a consultant and epidemiologist<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What is the story behind your study?<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

Kirstine<\/span> and I worked <\/span>as surf lifeguards and supervisors <\/span>for many years before implementing the three-step system for critical incident management. <\/span>In this period, w<\/span>e <\/span>saw <\/span>experienced lifeguards <\/span>being seriously affected by critical incidents<\/span>. Some even resigned<\/span>, <\/span>and others experienced symptoms of PTSD for months following <\/span>an<\/span> incident<\/span>.<\/span>Simultaneously, the supervisors were insecure about how to deal with these incidents. <\/span><\/p>\n

Hoping to improve <\/span>the lifeguards and the organisation’s awareness and adherence to monitoring their psychological health <\/span>and <\/span>to <\/span>provide a standardised system for early recognition of symptoms for the prevention of PTSD, w<\/span>e decided to <\/span>develop an operational system for critical incident management in lifeguard <\/span>organisations<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In your own words, what did you find?<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

We developed a<\/span>n operational <\/span>system for critical incident management that may improve early recognition of symptoms to prevent PTSD. The system can be implemented worldwide with little <\/span>adaptations and<\/span> may provide a basis for screening and referral to a mental health professional.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What was the main challenge you faced in your study?<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

One of the significant challenges was changing the lifeguard organisation<\/span>‘s culture, where <\/span>lifeguards may be expected to handle stress; seeing a mental health professional may be a stigma, and colleagues and supervisors may not identify the critical incident as critical<\/span>. Establishing sufficient <\/span>mental health <\/span>education is crucial to changing the culture in lifeguard organi<\/span>sations.<\/span><\/p>\n

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If there is one take home message from your study, what would that be?<\/span><\/strong><\/h5>\n

Implementing <\/span>mental health education and the operational system for critical incident management <\/span>in the lifeguard organisation may initially seem costly. However, it is our responsibility as employers, supervisor<\/span>s, or <\/span>colleagues to improve the mental health <\/span>of all our lifeguards.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Breindahl N, Strange KF, \u00d8stergaard D, et al.\u00a0Evaluation of a critical incident management system on mental health in lifeguard organisations: a retrospective study.\u00a0BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine 2023;9:e001499. doi: 10.1136\/bmjsem-2022-001499 […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":455,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[184,8],"class_list":["post-471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-peek-behind-the-study","tag-lifeguard","tag-mental-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopensem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}