Course Overview:
This course equips community members and volunteers with core Psychological First Aid (PFA) skills to support individuals affected by crises. It introduces key PFA principles, responsible helping, self-care strategies, and guidance for assisting people with special needs, and integrates practical scenarios.
Course modality:
Self-learning (self-paced)
Course duration:
12 hours
Introduction
The Psychological First Aid (PFA) course is a twelve-hour self-paced training. It aims to equip lay persons with the tools to appropriately provide the initial response to individuals experiencing psychological distress secondary to crisis situations.
The course covers the principal areas of: Understanding PFA; How to help responsibly; Providing PFA; People who likely need special attention; Caring for Self and Colleagues; and Practicing PFA Skills.
Each module begins with a summary of the previous lectures and learning objectives. It includes reflections, brief multiple-choice questions distributed throughout the module and ends with a module summary.
The second edition of this course includes special considerations for how to utilize PFA skills in ways that are safe for both the helper and the person who is in distress during an outbreak of disease, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This new content has been integrated across the 6 modules of the course.
Purpose
To provide a framework for caretakers/ volunteers/ first responders to deliver psychological and social support for individuals in crisis situations.
Objectives
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
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Define Psychological First Aid (PFA).
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Describe factors to consider in providing PFA.
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Discuss the process of providing PFA.
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List actions PFA providers take to care for self and colleagues.
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Identify individuals with special needs.
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Apply PFA to various crisis scenarios.
Target Audience
Psychological First Aid is written for all persons including volunteers and lay persons in the community who may be in a position to support the psychological and social well-being of individuals during and after a crisis, e.g. relief agency volunteers, teachers, religious leaders, etc.
Course duration
12 hours
Course Structure
Module 1 - Understanding PFA (1 hour)
Module 2 - How to Help Responsibly (1,5 hour)
Module 3 - Providing PFA (3,5 hours)
Module 4 - People who likely need special attention (2,5 hours)
Module 5 - Caring for Self and Colleagues (1.5 hours)
Module 6 – Practicing PFA Skills (1,5 hour)
Evaluation and certification
Upon completion of the training (6 modules), participants will need to complete a “Final Exam” of 20 multiple choice questions focused on assessing their ability to operationalize PFA skills.
The Final Exam is designed so that participants can have multiple opportunities to answer correctly until the required score of 70% or higher is obtained.
Participants who meet the above requirements and complete the Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH) Quality Survey can download their course completion certificate issued by the Pan American Health Organization.