Psychological First Aid Training of Police Officers

A significant lack of evidence regarding the effectiveness of psychological first aid (PFA) training of first responders to emergency settings has been reported. The aim of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of a PFA training program on the feeling of confidence on providing help in crisis, knowledge, attitudes, and skills of police officers. Fifty police officers were trained in PFA, using an adapted version of the World Health Organization’s program, and they were compared to a control group of 53 police officers. A PFA questionnaire was used to compare the two groups, before and after the implementation of the PFA training. Results revealed significant improvementson confidence, knowledge, attitudes, and skills of trained police officers, in comparison to controls. Thus, the present results suggest that PFA training programs are effective and should be offered to police officers in order to enhance their capacity to provide PFA in emergency settings.