Journal article
Development and Testing of the Spiritual First Aid Curriculum for Training Disaster Care Providers: An Initial Pilot Effectiveness Study
Spirituality in clinical practice (Washington, D.C.), Vol.11(3), pp.315-327
09/2024
DOI: 10.1037/scp0000361
Abstract
Spiritual first aid (SFA) trains disaster spiritual and emotional care providers to choose appropriate ways of responding to those who have experienced traumatic losses. The purpose of this study was to pilot a vignette-based strategy as a proof of concept for evaluating the effectiveness of SFA's curriculum. Participants were 61 disaster spiritual and emotional care providers who completed an 8-hr SFA training course that was adapted for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Immediately before and after the course, they answered vignette-style items of disaster scenarios across five domains of need targeted by SFA's curriculum: belongingness (social), livelihood (physical), emotional health (psychological), spiritual well-being (existential), and safety. SFA training attendees evidenced a modest increase in the percentage of correct answers between pretest (64.22%) and posttest (75.13%, p < .001; Cohen's d = .16) scores. They also chose more direct (pretest = 55.58%, posttest = 72.43%, p = .005; Cohen's d = .45) and less indirect (pretest = 21.68%, posttest = 10.50%, p < .001; Cohen's d = .40) responses in assessing safety needs upon completing the training. This study provides initial evidence, through a previously untested vignette-based strategy, of SFA's effectiveness in training disaster care providers to choose practical and humble ways of providing spiritual and emotional care to those suffering from traumatic losses.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Development and Testing of the Spiritual First Aid Curriculum for Training Disaster Care Providers: An Initial Pilot Effectiveness Study
- Creators
- Aaron T. McLaughlin - Georgia State UniversityDon E. Davis - Georgia State UniversityLaura R. Shannonhouse - Georgia State UniversityHannah M. Cowart - Georgia State UniversityLi-Cih Hsu - Georgia State UniversitySarah Gazaway - Georgia State UniversityMadalyn Cauble - Georgia State UniversityStacey E. McElroy-Heltzel - University of IowaJoshua N. Hook - University of North TexasDaryl R. Van Tongeren - Hope CollegeEdward B. Davis - Wheaton College - IllinoisEthan K. Lacey - Wheaton College - IllinoisJamie D. Aten - Wheaton College - IllinoisKent Annan - Wheaton College - Illinois
- Contributors
- Thomas G Plante (Editor)Laura E Captari (Editor)Everett L Worthington (Editor)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Spirituality in clinical practice (Washington, D.C.), Vol.11(3), pp.315-327
- Publisher
- Educational Publishing Foundation-American Psychological Assoc
- DOI
- 10.1037/scp0000361
- ISSN
- 2326-4500
- eISSN
- 2326-4519
- Number of pages
- 13
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/2024
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Quantitative Foundations
- Record Identifier
- 9984701558402771
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