Applications of Psychological First Aid in Disaster and Emergency Situations: Its Relationship with Decision-Making

Many people in the world are highly vulnerable to being affected by events of great vital impact. A disaster, which is known as an unexpected and brutal event, causes great social disorganization and significant psychological disorders. The protocol on Psychological First Aid (PFA) establishes certain actions to take on victims who are in the area of the event. Through these actions, the victims are assisted in a non-invasive protocol and they are helped to feel calm but not passive. The study of the processes of decision-making is a topic of great interest for the advancement of Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience. Regarding the implementation of PFA in disaster situations, the type of decision-making, analytic or intuitive, could represent an important factor for the effectiveness of the actions of aid provided by volunteers. Thus, the evaluation and decision-making training would be taken as a key factor. In this sense, intuitive or emotional decisions are more effective than analytical ones according to cultural experts who have studied similar situations. This paper presents results and conclusions regarding the associations between the implementation of PFA and the types of decisions made by the volunteers in a simulated disaster. To do so, the use of software, which stages a transport accident, provides the necessary instructions to the users through a set of four videos to be chosen.