Peer Delivered, Emotion Regulation-Focused Mental Health Prevention Training for Fire Fighter Trainees (PEER UP)

February 10, 2026 updated by: Baylor Research Institute

The goal of this clinical trial is to determine if a peer-delivered emotion regulation training (Brief-Unified Protocol) workshop is effective for preventing posttraumatic stress and other psychological health symptoms in firefighter trainees. The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • Do firefighter recruits who receive peer-delivered Brief-Unified Protocol report lower PTSD symptom severity over time compared to those who receive psychoeducation?
  • Do firefighter recruits who receive peer-delivered Brief-Unified Protocol report lower AUD, depression, anxiety, and functional impairment symptom severity over time compared to those who receive psychoeducation?
  • Do changes in neuroticism or emotion regulation mediate the effect of receiving the Brief-Unified Protocol on the treatment outcomes?

Participants will:

  • Participate in a Brief-Unified Protocol workshop or psychoeducation workshop during fire academy training.
  • Complete a questionnaire prior to the workshop.
  • Complete a questionnaire immediately following the workshop and follow up questionnaires at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after completing the fire academy.

Researchers will compare firefighters who receive a peer-delivered Brief-Unified Protocol workshop to firefighters who receive peer-delivered psychoeducation to see if the Brief-Unified Protocol is effective for preventing posttraumatic stress and other psychological health symptoms.

Study Overview

Status

Enrolling by invitation

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

480

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Waco, Texas, United States, 76708
        • MacArthur Clinic

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 21 years of age or older
  • English speaking
  • Able to sign an informed consent form
  • Able to complete the self-report assessment
  • Willing to be contacted to complete post and follow-up assessments

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Pregnant
  • Have plans to relocate within two months of protocol initiation
  • Report psychotic symptoms or suicidal behavior within the past 2 weeks
  • Are currently dependent on substances other than tobacco or caffeine

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Brief Unified Protocol
This workshop includes education regarding basic human emotions, why we have emotions, how they help us, how they can get in the way, and how they are related to psychological health problems, including among firefighters. Skills that are helpful in managing strong or unwanted emotions will be taught and practiced during the workshop. A workshop manual will be provided. Brief videos summarizing the material will be emailed over the course of the month following the workshop.
Behavioral: Brief Unified Protocol
The Brief Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders Unified Protocol.
Active Comparator: Psychoeducation
This workshop provides education regarding signs and symptoms of psychological health challenges that are most commonly experienced by firefighters. These include posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and alcohol and substance misuse. This workshop is a standard part of fire academy training. A workshop manual will be provided. Brief videos summarizing the material will be emailed over the course of the month following the workshop.
Behavioral: Psychoeducation
Psychoeducation regarding mental health challenges in fire service.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
PTSD Symptoms
Time Frame: 6, 12, 18, and 24 months
PTSD Checklist-5 (PCL-5). Score Range: 0-80. Higher scores indicate greater severity.
6, 12, 18, and 24 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Alcohol Use Disorder symptoms
Time Frame: 6, 12, 18, and 24 months
Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Score Range: 0-40. Higher scores indicate a higher likelihood of alcohol dependence.
6, 12, 18, and 24 months
Depression symptoms
Time Frame: 6, 12, 18, and 24 months
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Score Range: 0-27. Higher scores indicate greater severity.
6, 12, 18, and 24 months
Anxiety symptoms
Time Frame: 6, 12, 18, and 24 months
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7). Score Range: 0-21. Higher scores indicate greater severity.
6, 12, 18, and 24 months
Functional Impairment
Time Frame: 6, 12, 18, and 24 months
Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS). Score Range: 0-40. Higher scores indicate greater functional impairment.
6, 12, 18, and 24 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Baylor Research Institute

Collaborators

Boston University
University of Pittsburgh
Texas A&M University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

July 18, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 26, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 27, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

March 4, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 12, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 10, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Baylor IRB #023-445

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Depression

Clinical Trials on Brief Unified Protocol

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Tunisia

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe