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Abstract #149415

Suzanne R. Hawley, PhD, MPH¹, Gary C. Hawley, PsyD², Theresa St.Romain, MA¹, Elizabeth Ablah, PhD, MPH¹, and Bethany S. Kabler, BA, BSEd¹. (1) Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, 1010 N. Kansas, Wichita, KS 67214-3199, 316-293-2627, shawley@kumc.edu, (2) South Central Mental Health Counseling Center, 217 Ira Court, Andover, KS 67002

PURPOSE: Coordinating and integrating mental health topics into emergency preparedness planning is a critical step for ensuring effective psychological first aid. In order to remedy the current lack of integration, potential first responders must receive effective mental health preparedness training. The current study sought to address this need by providing mental health preparedness training to public health and allied health professionals in Kansas and assessing training impact on mental health preparedness level. METHODS: Participants included 155 potential first responders from public health and allied fields, all of whom attended one of 10 training presentations on mental health emergency preparedness. Pre and post each presentation, participants responded to six Likert-type questions about their knowledge of topics and level of mental health preparedness. Questions addressed stress reactions of specific populations, common psychological responses to disaster, psychological resiliency, mental health/preparedness integration, and level of agency preparedness. RESULTS: Post training, participants demonstrated statistically significant (p < .001) improvements in all questions about knowledge of mental health preparedness. Participants were also significantly more likely (p < .001) to report that their agency could respond to the mental health issues related to a disaster or emergency. CONCLUSIONS: The current study provides data about the present gaps in practitioner knowledge regarding mental health preparedness in Kansas, as well as the ability of potential first responders to internalize mental health preparedness information quickly. These findings are the first step toward producing and implementing effective mental health preparedness information and training on a wide scale.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Understand the need to integrate mental health topics into preparedness training.
• 2. List six important mental health preparedness training topics for potential first responders.
• 3. Recognize the ability of mental health preparedness training to significantly improve participant knowledge and ability.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.