The past decade has witnessed a boom in Psychological First Aid (PFA) models, guidelines and manuals. They all build on the same principles of helping people in distress by ensuring safety, calmness, comfort, talking and listening, helping to identify needs, and helping to provide access to what they need. In spite of this, very few high-quality research studies support the effectiveness of PFA.

The webinar addresses this research gap and looks at the reasons for why the evidence-base for PFA is so limited and what the challenges are for conducting research on PFA. The webinar also presents future avenues and recommendations for PFA research: Eliza Cheung presents experiences with research on PFA from Hong Kong Red Cross and Koen van Praet points at recommendations for strengthening research on PFA based on experience from Belgian Red Cross (Flanders). The discussion is moderated by Ferdinand Garoff.

The webinar is organized by the Red Cross Red Crescent Research Network on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, which was established in June 2016 with the vision to provide effective humanitarian action through a strengthened evidence-base in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement for mental health and psychosocial support for beneficiaries, volunteers and staff. Please contact coordinator of the research network, Cecilie Dinesen (cedin@rodekors.dk), for further information.

The presentations from the webinar can be downloadet here:

20171026 PFA Webinar Koen van Praet presentation
20171026 PFA Webinar Eliza Cheung presentation