Deliver Psychological First Aid with the Help of New Mobile App

By DCoE Strategic Communications

The new mobile app “Psychological First Aid” or “PFA Mobile,” supports providers and other response workers who provide psychological care to adults, families and children affected by natural or man-made disasters and emergencies. Developed through a collaborative effort among the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD, National Child Traumatic Stress Network and National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2), the app was designed to meet the challenges faced by first responders by making information and resources associated with response efforts readily accessible to them.

Materials in this application are adapted from the Psychological First Aid Field Operations Guide (2nd Edition), which has been used for successful disaster response around the world for the past six years.

Features of the app include:

■Summaries of psychological first aid fundamentals

■Intervention strategies for specific concerns and needs of survivors

■Mentor tips for applying psychological first aid in the field

■A self-assessment tool

■Easy forms for collecting data and making referrals

“PFA Mobile,” is free and currently only available for Apple users (iPhone, iPad and iPod touch). It will be available for Android devices in 2013. To learn more, read this article written by Dr. Julie Kinn, a clinical and research psychologist with T2 who leads the center’s mobile health application development.

T2 is a Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury center and serves as the primary Department of Defense office for cutting-edge approaches in applying technology to psychological health. Information about other mobile apps available for health professionals and the military community is at t2health.org.