A scoping review of psychosocial interventions delivered by non-mental health workers following disaster events

Abstract

Individuals exposed to disasters are at high risk of developing mental health conditions, yet the availability of mental health practitioners is often limited. The aim of this scoping review was to examine the quality of the evidence for psychosocial interventions that can be delivered by non-mental health workers in the context of disasters. Searches were performed in PsycInfo, EMBASE, Family & Society Studies Worldwide, CINAHL, Global Health, PubMed, and SCOPUS, from inception through to November 2024, to identify studies of relevance. Only studies investigating psychosocial interventions that could be delivered by non-mental health clinicians in a non-hospital or clinic setting were included. In total, 69 primary intervention studies examining 27 universal interventions and 10 indicated interventions were identified. Studies were rated on quality and risk of bias, and GRADE was used to rank the evidence for each intervention. For universal interventions, no study had an evidence rating above "very low" to support confidence in a significant impact on clinical outcomes. For indicated interventions, Problem Management Plus (PM+) and Self-Help Plus (SH+) had an evidence rating of "high" in the postdisaster context, and Skills for Life Adjustment and Resilience (SOLAR) had a "low" evidence rating; the remaining interventions were given "very low" ratings. Despite the high number of psychosocial interventions that target postdisaster distress, very few have been tested using rigorous methodologies with large samples. Future research should include methodologies that test interventions at scale and recognize the impacts of compounding disasters.