PSPNET Families Wellbeing Hub: A preliminary evaluation of online upstream supports for public safety personnel families

LAY SUMMARY Public safety personnel (PSP) families face unique challenges tied to the job’s occupational risks and requirements. These challenges can often spill over into home life, affecting the day-to-day unfolding of schedules, sleep, mood, activities, and relationships. The impact of this spillover into family life has not received much attention in research or practice. What makes PSP family life unique is the combination of logistics, risks, and identities associated with the job. The project team created an online well-being hub tailored to those factors for PSP families. The website offers information pages, strategy and skill-building exercises, and a self-directed, Internet-delivered cognitive-behavioural therapy course. The hub was launched in December 2022, and the project team wanted to gauge its impact. This article contains a preliminary assessment of Google Analytics, social media posts, and semi-structured interviews. Findings show the site resonates with PSP family members’ experiences, that there is a need for the site, and that users find connection to the content. The hub will continue to be refined based on feedback, and the team will do more research about its impacts. Public safety personnel (PSP) face diverse challenges (e.g., trauma exposure, unscheduled call-ins, nonstandard work hours) that can spill over into home lives. While the challenges of PSP family life have been acknowledged, resources that address the daily experiences of PSP family members are limited. A growing body of evidence shows the positive outcomes of virtual/digital resources and interventions to support mental health and well-being. Accordingly, this Canadian research team, funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, set out to shape the PSPNET Families Wellbeing Hub, an online ecosystem of upstream mental health and well-being information, skill-building, and self-directed cognitive-behavioural therapy supports designed to address the needs and contexts of PSP family life. The full site launched in English on Dec. 5, 2022. This article draws on both qualitative and quantitative preliminary data from three data sources collected in early 2023 — Google Analytics, social media responses, and semi-structured interviews — to understand the degree to which the site resonates with the population and identify opportunities for growth. Results showed a need for PSPNET Families but also that further data collection is required to fully assess the extent to which t