Words to Action: pictorial contextualization of the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings

Diaz, J. O. P., & de Prewitt, A. D. (2008). Words to Action: pictorial contextualization of the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings. Intervention, 6(3), 327-333.

A major challenge for the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings is to make them accessible to community groups. People at the local level often have difficulty in reading and comprehending the guidelines. This article describes how pictorial aids, such as visual stimulus cards and ‘low verbal-high visual’ instruction materials, were used to assist communities groups to work with the guidelines. We describe how these materials have been developed in several post disaster settings in Latin America and South East Asia. The experiences with these documents suggest a promising practice for using the guidelines.

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• 6(3/4), Community mobilization, Equivalence, Field report, Guidelines, Instruction materials, Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), pictorial contextualization