Adapting post-disaster psychosocial support programs for use in defence and public safety families: A scoping review

Introduction: Defence and public safety (DPS) personnel are exposed to a heightened risk of injury or death because of operational requirements. When tragedies occur, families in the broader DPS communities are often impacted in addition to those families closest to the serving personnel. Although DPS organizations may provide some level of psychosocial support following tragedies, DPS families — especially those more indirectly affected — are often left without support. There remains a lack of research on psychosocial support programs for families impacted by tragedy represented in academic literature. Methods: We aimed to conduct a scoping review on research from populations impacted by disaster as a starting point to develop recommendations for psychosocial support programs for DPS families following tragedy. The scoping review was guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s framework. Search strategies were developed in consultation with a research librarian. Results: A total of 4,128 studies were screened using Covidence systematic review software, which enables blind screening. The final data set consists of 24 research articles and reveals a wide variety of psychosocial programs for disaster response. Activities commonly included in programs are psycho-education, skills building, psychological first aid, and peer support. Included studies strongly endorse the use of a stepped care model to serve a spectrum of symptomologies, and several studies highlight the importance of an ecological approach. Internet-based interventions are also shown to be a promising method of delivering support. Discussion: When contextualized with existing DPS programs and DPS family literature, this scoping review highlights several promising directions in the development of psychosocial support programs for DPS families following tragedy.