Hospital-based psychological first aid provided to patients injured in the Lushan earthquake]

In the aftermath of the 7.0 earthquake that struck Lushan in China's Sichuan Province on April 20, 2013, a psychological crisis intervention working group was established in a hospital that was treating earthquake victims. Patients at this hospital received psychological first aid that was delivered in accordance with scientific, systematic, and standardized principles. This first aid employed a "rooting mode" methodology and was designed as a supportive psychological intervention. Mental assessment results showed that the general mental health, acute stress reactions, and anxiety and depression status of all of the 131 injured who received the psychological intervention had significantly improved (p < .05) during the two-week intervention period. This paper introduces the basic principles used to develop and provide this first aid, the approach used to organize the working groups, the main contents of the intervention, specific methods used, and intervention outcomes. This information is provided as a reference for providing localized psychological assistance in the aftermath of a disaster incident.Abstract available from the publisher.