Video Game Cultivates Resilience

VIU researcher creating prototype game to help firefighters cope with trauma experienced on the job.

Dr. Leigh Blaney is branching out into the world of video game development. With the help of a BC SUPPORT Unit grant of $10,000, Blaney, a VIU Health and Human Services Professor, and her research partner Robert Fell, a volunteer firefighter and owner of tech company HYPERSURGE, are developing a prototype firefighter resilience education video game called Firefighter Edge that can be used in resilience training worldwide. For many first responders, the cumulative exposure to trauma can overwhelm their coping skills, triggering a mental health crisis. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience working in critical incident stress management with firefighters, Blaney has co-created a resilience education program aimed at helping volunteer firefighters in BC learn different ways of thinking about and reacting to anxiety-causing situations and how to cultivate their personal resilience before they are involved in a disturbing incident. The in-person training program was rolled out in 2018 and showed positive results. The patient-oriented Research-to-Action grant will fund the development of the prototype game, which will then be trialed by fire service partners on southern Vancouver Island. “It’s a really unique way of delivering education that we have talked about for well over a year,” says Blaney. “It was Rob’s idea to create the game. He gave me access to a game he developed for the Ministry of Defense in the United Kingdom, and after playing it for two hours I was fully engaged in it, and I am not a gamer. The process of knowledge and skill development as you work through these games is very interesting and convinced me this could be a useful tool. The firefighters we’ve talked to about the game are also super excited about it.” The BC SUPPORT Unit Vancouver Island Centre connects researchers with patients and families living in the area served by Island Health and offers services to support and increase Patient-Oriented Research (POR). POR is part of Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research led by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

If the game proves successful, Blaney and Fell want to launch it nationally and internationally, if they can secure financial support.  “The process of knowledge and skill development as you work through these games is very interesting and convinced me this could be a useful tool.”

Dr. Leigh Blaney

VIU Health and Human Services Professor