NCT07247149

Testing a Novel Attention Based Training Prevention Strategy for First Responders: FirstFocus a Mobile App

Testing a Novel Attention Based Training Prevention Strategy for First Responders: FirstFocus a Mobile Appt

• Status: Enrolling By Invitation
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 80 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Palo Alto University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

First responders are frequently exposed to high-stress and traumatic events, putting them at increased risk for mental health challenges such as posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression. Access to traditional mental health services is often hindered by stigma, time constraints, and a lack of tailored resources. Mobile app-based interventions offer a promising solution due to their accessibility and potential to address mental health proactively and in a time sensitive way. Attention training has emerged as a simple way to prevent distress and the emergence of future mental health concerns. The proposed research will test a mobile app: FirstFocus which will leverage targeted attention training to prevent stress/distress during shifts and enhance the wellbeing of rural first responders. The specific aims are to (1) test the feasibility and acceptability of FirstFocus as an intervention for rural first responders; (2) to test the short-term preventative efficacy of attention training on state stress/distress and its longer-term efficacy for improving professional quality of life and reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Conditions

• Wellbeing

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Attention Bias Modification	Attention training involves 80 training trials. The task uses words developed specifically for this study with fear words such as "crash" and "car" and neutral words such as "couch" and "can" that are balanced for length and frequency. Additionally, on every trial the location of the probe is the same as the location of the fear word. Participants press the button corresponding to the direction of the probe. The training takes approximately 5 minutes to complete.

Timeline

• Start date: 2025-11-15
• Primary completion: 2026-09-01
• Completion: 2026-12-01
• First posted: 2025-11-25
• Last updated: 2025-12-05

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States