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A reflective learning report about the implementation and impacts of Psychological First Aid (PFA) in Gaza

Psychological First Aid (PFA) is the recommended immediate psychosocial response during crises. As PFA is now widely implemented in crises worldwide, there are increasing calls to evaluate its effectiveness. World Vision used PFA as a fundamental component of their emergency response following the 2...

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Autores principales: Schafer, Alison, Snider, Leslie, Sammour, Rania
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Taylor & Francis 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5314942/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28229011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21665044.2015.1110292
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author Schafer, Alison
Snider, Leslie
Sammour, Rania
author_facet Schafer, Alison
Snider, Leslie
Sammour, Rania
author_sort Schafer, Alison
collection PubMed
description Psychological First Aid (PFA) is the recommended immediate psychosocial response during crises. As PFA is now widely implemented in crises worldwide, there are increasing calls to evaluate its effectiveness. World Vision used PFA as a fundamental component of their emergency response following the 2014 conflict in Gaza. Anecdotal reports from Gaza suggest a range of benefits for those who received PFA. Though not intending to undertake rigorous research, World Vision explored learnings about PFA in Gaza through Focus Group Discussions with PFA providers, Gazan women, men and children and a Key Informant Interview with a PFA trainer. The qualitative analyses aimed to determine if PFA helped individuals to feel safe, calm, connected to social supports, hopeful and efficacious – factors suggested by the disaster literature to promote coping and recovery (Hobfoll et al., 2007). Results show positive psychosocial benefits for children, women and men receiving PFA, confirming that PFA contributed to: safety, reduced distress, ability to engage in calming practices and to support each other, and a greater sense of control and hopefulness irrespective of their adverse circumstances. The data shows that PFA formed an important part of a continuum of care to meet psychosocial needs in Gaza and served as a gateway for addressing additional psychosocial support needs. A “whole-of-family” approach to PFA showed particularly strong impacts and strengthened relationships. Of note, the findings from World Vision's implementation of PFA in Gaza suggests that future PFA research go beyond a narrow focus on clinical outcomes, to a wider examination of psychosocial, familial and community-based outcomes.
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spelling pubmed-53149422017-02-22 A reflective learning report about the implementation and impacts of Psychological First Aid (PFA) in Gaza Schafer, Alison Snider, Leslie Sammour, Rania Disaster Health Research Paper Psychological First Aid (PFA) is the recommended immediate psychosocial response during crises. As PFA is now widely implemented in crises worldwide, there are increasing calls to evaluate its effectiveness. World Vision used PFA as a fundamental component of their emergency response following the 2014 conflict in Gaza. Anecdotal reports from Gaza suggest a range of benefits for those who received PFA. Though not intending to undertake rigorous research, World Vision explored learnings about PFA in Gaza through Focus Group Discussions with PFA providers, Gazan women, men and children and a Key Informant Interview with a PFA trainer. The qualitative analyses aimed to determine if PFA helped individuals to feel safe, calm, connected to social supports, hopeful and efficacious – factors suggested by the disaster literature to promote coping and recovery (Hobfoll et al., 2007). Results show positive psychosocial benefits for children, women and men receiving PFA, confirming that PFA contributed to: safety, reduced distress, ability to engage in calming practices and to support each other, and a greater sense of control and hopefulness irrespective of their adverse circumstances. The data shows that PFA formed an important part of a continuum of care to meet psychosocial needs in Gaza and served as a gateway for addressing additional psychosocial support needs. A “whole-of-family” approach to PFA showed particularly strong impacts and strengthened relationships. Of note, the findings from World Vision's implementation of PFA in Gaza suggests that future PFA research go beyond a narrow focus on clinical outcomes, to a wider examination of psychosocial, familial and community-based outcomes. Taylor & Francis 2015-12-02 /pmc/articles/PMC5314942/ /pubmed/28229011 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21665044.2015.1110292 Text en © 2016 World Vision International. Published with license by Taylor & Francis http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted.
spellingShingle Research Paper
Schafer, Alison
Snider, Leslie
Sammour, Rania
A reflective learning report about the implementation and impacts of Psychological First Aid (PFA) in Gaza
title A reflective learning report about the implementation and impacts of Psychological First Aid (PFA) in Gaza
title_full A reflective learning report about the implementation and impacts of Psychological First Aid (PFA) in Gaza
title_fullStr A reflective learning report about the implementation and impacts of Psychological First Aid (PFA) in Gaza
title_full_unstemmed A reflective learning report about the implementation and impacts of Psychological First Aid (PFA) in Gaza
title_short A reflective learning report about the implementation and impacts of Psychological First Aid (PFA) in Gaza
title_sort reflective learning report about the implementation and impacts of psychological first aid (pfa) in gaza
topic Research Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5314942/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28229011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21665044.2015.1110292
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