Background: Military personnel experience many unique stressors in war, deployments, and disasters. The Department of Defense’s reported annual treatment costs reached @.6 billion for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), .5 billion for depression, and billion for comorbid PTSD and depression (Vyas et al., 2016). Educational intervention on Psychological First Aid (PFA) and resilience resources have increased knowledge and self-efficacy to apply PFA interventions, improve confidence, and positively affect health outcomes (Everly et al., 2014; Lee et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2020). Clinical Question: How does the implementation and simulation-based evaluation of an evidence-based educational bundle intervention that includes exposure and education on PFA and resilience resources affect knowledge and confidence in using PFA and resilience resources in military healthcare personnel at Camp Lejeune? Project Design: This project used a single group, pre/post design, to evaluate an evidence-based education intervention on using PFA and resilience resources in military healthcare personnel at Camp Lejeune. We used simulation-based comic strips to evaluate pre/post knowledge checks (KCs) and Likert scales to evaluate confidence checks post-intervention. Analysis of Results: Data was analyzed for 23 healthcare participants using SPSS 28.0 (Armonk NY, IBM Corp.); KCs were compared using Wilcoxon signed rank test and descriptive statistics for post-intervention confidence checks. Participants demonstrated improvement on KC items, but no significant difference in pre/post-KC scores. Participants had 69.9% enhanced knowledge, and 73.9% reported being very confident in understanding the utilization of PFA; 30.4% reported being very confident versus 69.6% somewhat confident. Organizational Impact/ Implications for Practice: This project provides evidence supporting the effectiveness of education on PFA and resilience resources for military healthcare personnel at our location. PFA education and resiliency resources in the military are relevant to decreasing the costs of mental health expenditures and increasing organizational readiness. A larger sample is necessary for future projects to generalize results.
2. Following this session, the attendees will be able to demonstrate awareness of the Psychological First Aid mobile application.
3. Following this session, the attendees will be able to recognize Psychological First Aid as an effective intervention for helping those in a crisis or following a disaster.
4. Following this session, the attendees will be able to recognize Psychological First Aid as a viable preventative tool against mental health disorders following a disaster.