{"id":4751,"date":"2023-05-11T10:15:35","date_gmt":"2023-05-11T14:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trauma.criusmm.net\/?p=4751"},"modified":"2023-05-11T10:15:48","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T14:15:48","slug":"a-feasibility-study-of-psychological-first-aid-as-a-supportive-intervention-among-police-officers-exposed-to-traumatic-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trauma.criusmm.net\/en\/scientific-papers\/a-feasibility-study-of-psychological-first-aid-as-a-supportive-intervention-among-police-officers-exposed-to-traumatic-events\/","title":{"rendered":"A feasibility study of psychological first aid as a supportive intervention among police officers exposed to traumatic events"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Introduction:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Police officers are often exposed to traumatic events, which can induce psychological distress and increase the risk of developing post-traumatic stress injuries. To date, little is known about support and prevention of traumatic events in police organizations. Psychological first aid (PFA) has been promoted as a promising solution to prevent psychological distress following exposure to a traumatic event. However, PFA has not yet been adapted to policing reality, let alone to the frequent exposure to traumatic events faced by this population.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Objectives: <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of PFA as an early intervention for the prevention of post-traumatic stress injuries among police officers in Quebec, Canada.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, the objectives were to evaluate: (1) the demand. (2) the practicality, and (3) the acceptability of PFA in a police organization.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Methods: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>36 police officers participatedin semi-structured interviews between October 26th, 2021, and July 23rd, 2022.<\/li>\n<li>Participants were comprised of responders (n = 26), beneficiaries (n = 4) and<br \/>\nmanagers (n=6).<\/li>\n<li>Interviews were transcribed, coded, and evaluated according toa thematic analysis.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Results &amp; Discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Results suggestedthat PFA met individual and organizational needs.<\/li>\n<li>Participants providedfeedback for improving the implementation and sustainability of a PFA program.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Regarding practicality, PFA were described as useful, helpful and flexible.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Responders believed the training increased confidence in their abilityto support fellow colleagues. They reported being betterequipped to detect, understand, and act upon psychological distress.<\/li>\n<li>The PFA approachwas also characterized as easy to use, namely because it provided<br \/>\nresponders with clear action points.<\/li>\n<li>Further, PFA was viewed as morerelevant and respectful of individual pace than other trainings.<\/li>\n<li>Finally,responders valued having access to useful materials (e.g., reminder\/checklist, intervention report canvas) to plan upcoming interventionsor to review completed sessions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Overall, findings revealed that implementation of a PFA program in a law enforcement agency was feasible and could be accomplished without major issues. Importantly, PFA had beneficial consequences within the organization. Specifically, PFA destigmatized mental health issues and renewed a sense of hope among police personnel.<\/p>\n<p>Authors : Steve Geoffrion, Marie-Pierre Leduc, Elody Bourgouin, Fran\u00e7ois Bellemare, Val\u00e9rie Arenzon and Christine Genest (2023)<\/p>\n<p>For full article : <a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2023.1149597\/full\">Click here !<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction: Police officers are often exposed to traumatic events, which can induce psychological distress and increase the risk of developing post-traumatic stress injuries. To date, little is known about support and prevention of traumatic events in police organizations. Psychological first aid (PFA) has been promoted as a promising solution to prevent psychological distress following exposure [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4750,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"wds_primary_category":59,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scientific-papers"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trauma.criusmm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trauma.criusmm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trauma.criusmm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trauma.criusmm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trauma.criusmm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trauma.criusmm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trauma.criusmm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trauma.criusmm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trauma.criusmm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trauma.criusmm.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}