Randomized Controlled Trial on the effectiveness of pre-disaster training of Psychological First Aid among Emergency Responders

Effectiveness of Psychological First Aid training in improving self-efficacy and mental health outcomes for Chinese emergency responders: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Phase 1

Study type

Interventional

Source

ChiCTR

Registry ID

ChiCTR-TRC-11001268

Enrollment

Unknown

Registered

2011-03-24

Start date

2011-04-02

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2017-04-18

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Nil

Interventions

1:Psychological First Aid, a model widely used and adopted as a community-based intervention for reducing post-disaster psychological distressin a form of one-day 7-hour training and 3-month and 6-mon

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

Male

Age

18 Years to 80 Years

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: First responders, including fire fighters, police, ambulance officers, rescuers and auxiliary medical personnel with and without previous trauma exposure will be recruited.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: Interested individuals with psychiatric history or current diagnosis of psychiatric disorders will be screened out and referred for professional mental health services.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Participants’ knowledge in disaster mental health, knowledge in Psychological First Aid, self-efficacy in delivering help in times of emergencies and actual helping behavior will be measured as the primary end-points.;	—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
Participants’ psychological well-being, psychological distress and coping responses to stressful events and life satisfaction will be measured as secondary end-points.;The following measures will be administered at pre-training, post-training, 3-month and 6-month follow-up evaluations. General Health Questionnaire. The 28-item scale was used as a measure of general psychopathology (Goldberg, 1978).;The responses were scored by 4-point Likert scale. The instrument has been widely used in disaster research (Heir, Piatigorsky & Weisaeth, 2009). The reliability and validity of the Chinese version of GHQ-28 has been verified in local studies (Chan, 1995).;Depression Anxiety Stress Scales – short version (DASS21). Depression, anxiety, and stress will be measured by the DASS21 (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). Chinese version of DASS-21 was available in the literature (Taouk, Lovibond, & Laube, 2001). Participants will be asked to indicate how applicable the statements in describing their states or feelings over the past week.;The responses were scored by 4-point Likert scale from 0 (did not apply to me at all) to 3 (applied to me very much, or most of the time). DASS21 were validated as representative of the full version of DASS with 42 items (Henry & Crawford, 2005).;Impact of Event Scale-Revised. The 22-item scale was included to examine the presence and intensity of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Participants responded to each item on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 0=absence of a symptom to 4=maximum severity.;There are three subscales, including intrusion, avoidance and hyperarousal). A change in the proportion of participants with IES-R score >=33 will be used to evaluate the clinical change. The Chinese version of the IES-R was found to have good internal consistency (Wu & Chan, 2004).;Brief COPE. Brief COPE consists of 28 items measuring 14 different coping responses (Carver, 1997). Each coping response will be assessed by 2 items and participants will rate ea	—

Measure

Time frame

Participants’ psychological well-being, psychological distress and coping responses to stressful events and life satisfaction will be measured as secondary end-points.;The following measures will be administered at pre-training, post-training, 3-month and 6-month follow-up evaluations. General Health Questionnaire. The 28-item scale was used as a measure of general psychopathology (Goldberg, 1978).;The responses were scored by 4-point Likert scale. The instrument has been widely used in disaster research (Heir, Piatigorsky & Weisaeth, 2009). The reliability and validity of the Chinese version of GHQ-28 has been verified in local studies (Chan, 1995).;Depression Anxiety Stress Scales – short version (DASS21). Depression, anxiety, and stress will be measured by the DASS21 (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995). Chinese version of DASS-21 was available in the literature (Taouk, Lovibond, & Laube, 2001). Participants will be asked to indicate how applicable the statements in describing their states or feelings over the past week.;The responses were scored by 4-point Likert scale from 0 (did not apply to me at all) to 3 (applied to me very much, or most of the time). DASS21 were validated as representative of the full version of DASS with 42 items (Henry & Crawford, 2005).;Impact of Event Scale-Revised. The 22-item scale was included to examine the presence and intensity of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Participants responded to each item on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 0=absence of a symptom to 4=maximum severity.;There are three subscales, including intrusion, avoidance and hyperarousal). A change in the proportion of participants with IES-R score >=33 will be used to evaluate the clinical change. The Chinese version of the IES-R was found to have good internal consistency (Wu & Chan, 2004).;Brief COPE. Brief COPE consists of 28 items measuring 14 different coping responses (Carver, 1997). Each coping response will be assessed by 2 items and participants will rate ea

—

Countries

China

Contacts

Public ContactProf. CHAN Ying Yang Emily

chan@cuhk.edu.hk+852 2252 8411

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ChiCTR (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026