Building a national model of public mental health preparedness and community resilience: validation of a dual-intervention, systems-based approach.

Objective: Working within a series of partnerships among an academic health center, local health departments (LHDs), and faith-based organizations (FBOs), we validated companion interventions to address community mental health planning and response challenges in public health emergency preparedness.

Methods: We implemented the project within the framework of an enhanced logic model and employed a multi-cohort, pre-test/post-test design to assess the outcomes of 1-day workshops in psychological first aid (PFA) and guided preparedness planning (GPP). The workshops were delivered to urban and rural communities in eastern and midwestern regions of the United States.

An academic-government-faith partnership to build disaster mental health preparedness and community resilience.

Objectives: Faculty and affiliates of the Johns Hopkins Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center partnered with local health departments and faith-based organizations to develop a dual-intervention model of capacity-building for public mental health preparedness and community resilience. Project objectives included (1) determining the feasibility of the tri-partite collaborative concept; (2) designing, delivering, and evaluating psychological first aid (PFA) training and guided preparedness planning (GPP); and (3) documenting preliminary evidence of the sustainability and impact of the model.

Methods: We evaluated intervention effectiveness by analyzing pre- and post-training changes in participant responses on knowledge-acquisition tests administered to three urban and four rural community cohorts.