Trial reportEuropean journal of psychotraumatology2022
The ABCDE psychological first aid intervention decreases early PTSD symptoms but does not prevent it: results of a randomized-controlled trial.
Trial report in European journal of psychotraumatology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Post-incident psychosocial interventions after a traumatic incident in the workplace: a systematic review of current research evidence and clinical guidance.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2023Pooled it
- The effect of a single session of psychological first aid in the emergency department on PTSD and depressive symptoms three months post-intervention: results of a randomised controlled trial.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2024Trial
- Escalation during continuous traumatic stress: the psychological impact of wartime flare-up.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Towards scalable psychological first aid training: an autoethnographic exploration of the potential of large language models in simulation-based learning.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Psychological Interventions for Pregnant Women in Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Incidents: A Systematic Review.Health science reports · 2026Review
- Psychological care in acute and emergency medicine: a scoping review of support interventions by healthcare professionals.BMC emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Trauma Prevention Care in Natural Disaster-prone Areas: Concept Analysis.Acta medica Philippina · 2026Article
- The preventive effect of emergency psychological intervention on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in patients with acute spinal cord injury: a retrospective cohort study.BMC emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Implementing scalable face-to-face and digital interventions among forcibly displaced persons from Ukraine in Europe: protocol of The U-RISE Project.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- The impact of trauma and how to intervene: a narrative review of psychotraumatology over the past 15 years.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Moral injury prevention and intervention.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Review
- Implementation and evaluation of a psychological first aid program to manage post-traumatic stress injuries among Canadian police officers.Implementation science communications · 2025Article
- Wounds beyond bars: reflecting on the urgent need for psychological support and interventions in the aftermath of Syria's regime collapse.BJPsych international · 2025Review
- Examining Trauma Cognitions as a Mechanism of the BRITE Intervention for Female-Identifying Individuals with PTSD Symptoms and Alcohol Misuse.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Need to Plan Mental Health First Aid Courses for Health Care Workers When Faced with Domestic Violence in Women.Iranian journal of public health · 2025Article
- State of the art on the main intervention methodologies in the field of emergency psychology: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Review
- Impact of crisis intervention on mental health in the context of specific civilian emergencies.PloS one · 2025Article
- The Effectiveness and Implementation of Psychological First Aid as a Therapeutic Intervention After Trauma: An Integrative Review.Trauma, violence & abuse · 2024Review
- The Perception and Roles of School Mental Health Professionals Regarding School Bullying (International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- A digital self-help tool to promote mental well-being for Ukrainians affected by war - Assessing predictors of stress.Neuroscience applied · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEarly Psychological First Aid (PFA) has been widely recommended for preventing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, its lack of empirical evidence of safety and effectiveness has been criticized.
objectivesTo assess the effectiveness of PFA-ABCDE, an original PFA protocol, for preventing PTSD one month after the intervention and decreasing PTSD symptoms at one and six months of follow up.
methodsWe assessed the eligibility of 1,140 adult survivors of recent trauma (≤ 72 hours) consulting five emergency departments in Chile. Two hundred twenty-one were randomized to receive either PFA-ABCDE (active listening, breathing retraining, categorization of needs, referral to ancillary services, and psychoeducation) or only psychoeducation. We used the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) to assess PTSD diagnosis. The Posttraumatic Checklist (PCL), the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and a 0-10 points analogue visual scale were used to assess PTSD symptoms, depressive symptoms, and immediate distress relief after the intervention.
resultsWe found no difference between the experimental and control groups in the frequency of PTSD one month after the intervention (PFA-ABCDE = 23/76 [30.3%], psychoeducation = 18/75 [24.0%], adjusted odds ratio = 1.39, 95% confidence interval = 0.63-3.07,
conclusionsPFA-ABCDE does not prevent PTSD diagnosis, but it provides immediate distress relief and decreases PTSD symptoms in the short term.
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