Effectiveness research in crisis intervention (Psychosoziale Notfallversorgung für Betroffene, PSNV-B)

Researchers: Thomas Ehring, Sebastian Hoppe

Collaborators: KIT-München

Description:

For about three decades crisis intervention teams have been supporting people immediately after psychologically stressful events such as a death in the family or a serious accident. At a first glance this kind of support for people with acute mental distress seems important and helpful, but so far there is a lack of reliable scientific studies on the effectiveness of such support services.

In cooperation with the Munich crisis intervention team (KIT-München) and close coordination with other central PSNV-B institutions we are approaching this research topic and will gain experience concerning the practicability of studies within this sector which entails numerous methodological challenges. With conducting a longitudinal study, we expect to obtain initial findings on the effect of PSNV-B. As a first step we developed and tested a new standardized and nationwide usable operation protocol for documenting PSNV operations.

Our research aims on exploring the subject of PSNV-B, developing practicable as well as ethically justifiable research designs and obtaining initial results on the question of the effectiveness of PSNV-B.