Systematic Review of Psychological First Aid

Jonathan I Bisson and Catrin Lewis, Cardiff University Commissioned by the World Health Organisation. 31 July 2009.

PFA continues to be described as an evidence-informed approach but has not yet been subjected to a formal systematic review of its effectiveness. In order to address this, the World Health Organisation commissioned us to conduct a systematic review to determine the current evidence base. As we were not aware of any randomised controlled trials of PFA we decided to consider any data containing study regarding its effectiveness. We also conducted a systematic review of predictors of PTSD and depression to determine if there were other sources of research that could inform its potential effectiveness.

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