A new study has shown that Psychological First Aid, training originally created for people to support others, can help healthcare workers in care homes improve their own mental wellbeing.
First developed by the World Health Organisation, Psychological First Aid (PFA) is the globally recommended training for people, such as healthcare workers, who support others during emergencies.
It offers guidance on delivering psychosocial care in the immediate aftermath of an emergency event.
Although PFA training was originally created for people to support others, scientists from Northumbria University and the University of Highlands and Islands (UHI) have now also identified it as a suitable way of helping care workers look after their own mental health and wellbeing.
As part of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in June 2020 the UK government introduced free to access online PFA training in an effort to support frontline staff, such the 1.8 million people working in care homes across the country.
Evaluating the effectiveness of this initiative, academics at Northumbria and UHI investigated the uptake of PFA training among healthcare workers in UK care homes and assessed its effects on their wellbeing.
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