Exam 11: Emergency Planning

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One approach to crisis response has been referred to as critical incident stress debriefing,or CISD.CISD is defined as a post-trauma intervention focused on providing victims with an opportunity to discuss their experiences and reactions to a traumatic event.The characteristics of CISDs vary; generally,though,they involve psychologists (or other trained professionals)providing assistance immediately following a traumatic event in an effort to prevent the development of serious or lasting negative consequences.Elements of CISDs can vary but typically include ensuring confidentiality; providing individuals with the opportunity to talk about their perspective on,thoughts about,and emotional reactions to the incident; assessing psychological and physical symptoms; and providing information about stress responses and coping strategies.Studies have produced mixed and inconsistent results.More adaptive coping strategies and lower anger levels were seen in a group of police officers who had gone through CISD compared to a group who had not.However,a review of 67 studies concluded that debriefing does not mitigate the effects of traumatic stress.A meta-analytic review found that single session debriefing was less effective than other forms of intervention and less effective than no intervention in reducing the effects of traumatic stress.There is growing evidence that CISD may actually make things worse by exacerbating traumatic reactions when individuals have to relive their experiences.