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(P1-95) Clinical Effectiveness of Psychological First Aid Training among Emergency Responders in Chinese Population: Preliminary Results of 3-Month Follow-Up

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 May 2011

E.Y.L. Cheung ,
E.Y.Y. Chan ,
C.L.Y. Lin  and
P.P.Y. Lee
E.Y.L. Cheung
Affiliation:
CCOC, School of Public Health and Primary Care, Shatin, Hong Kong
E.Y.Y. Chan
Affiliation:
CCOC, School of Public Health and Primary Care, Shatin, Hong Kong
C.L.Y. Lin
Affiliation:
CCOC, School of Public Health and Primary Care, Shatin, Hong Kong
P.P.Y. Lee
Affiliation:
CCOC, School of Public Health and Primary Care, Shatin, Hong Kong
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Abstract

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Background

Psychological First Aid (PFA) has become the choice of mental health intervention and integration with the current disaster relief protocols during emergencies by the Institute of Medicine, NIMH and the WHO. It can be used during or immediately after disaster. People without mental health specialized training, including public health practitioners and emergency responders can learn and apply to everyone in need. Whilst being used extensively, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of PFA and its field applicability.

Methods

A prospective randomized controlled study. 800 emergency medical responders were recruited. Participants were randomly assigned to the control/intervention arms to receive a one-day training of PFA based on the protocol developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2006). A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the screening tools and training material and all training was provided by trained clinical psychologist. Repeated measures analysis of covariance was used to evaluate the efficacy of PFA program in changes in various outcome measures between PFA intervention and control group. All analyses were conducted on the intent-to-treat and completer groups. Ethical approval was approved by the CUHK-NTEC Clinical Research Ethics Committee.

Results

Preliminary results from the post-training and 3 month follow-up data indicated participants in the training group have reported a significantly more substantial knowledge in disaster mental health, improve self-efficacy in delivering help in times of emergencies, high frequency of actual helping behavior as well as better self-reported psychological well-being when compared with waitlist control group.

Conclusion

This study examines and reports findings of clinical effectiveness of PFA 3 months post training in Chinese emergency responders. Preliminary results provided empirical evidences on the effectiveness of the approach.

Type
Poster Abstracts 17th World Congress for Disaster and Emergency Medicine
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 26 , Supplement S1 , May 2011 , pp. s129 - s130
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2011