Help in a crisis: Psychological first aid

Today is World Mental Health Day, a day the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has set aside to recognize mental health issues around the world and efforts to support people with these issues. The theme for 2016 is “psychological first aid.” Psychological first aid covers both psychological and social support for people who are in distress. They may have experienced personal trauma, such as an accident or a death in the community, or they may be survivors of disasters, natural or man-made. The World Health Organization recognizes that first responders and aid workers often find themselves providing psychological support to people in need in addition to medical help. WHO’s efforts for the day focus on providing training, resources, and support for first responders to be able to provide psychological and social support in a crisis. Visit the WHO World Mental Health Day page to learn more about psychological first aid, including factsheets, training overviews, and a field guide to psychological first aid.

NARIC’s REHABDATA database includes more than 500 abstracts that discuss mental health and crisis, emergencies, and trauma. This includes research from the NIDILRR community as well as international research. Follow these links to browse through the research and learn more about supporting mental health in crisis:

• Abstracts of articles from NIDILRR-funded projects on mental health and crisis, emergency, trauma, or disaster.
• US and International research on mental health in natural and human-made crises
  • Natural disasters (flood, storm, earthquake)
  • Human-made crisis (conflict, war, violence)
  • Personal crisis (abuse, accidents, violence, crime)
  • Emergency and medical responders (doctors, nurses, EMTs, paramedics, ambulance personnel)

These are just a few examples of ways to search NARIC’s database to find US and international research on a wide range of disability and rehabilitation issues. If you are looking for new research, conducting literature reviews, or boning up on research in your field, please visit the REHABDATA database and try your own searches. To stay up on new research, sign up for our monthly REHABDATA Connection literature awareness service!