In response to an emergency: Trial use of EMDR group traumatic episode protocol for humanitarian workers on Greek islands

A Humanitarian Non-Governmental Organization working in Greece requested two emergency field visits to two Greek Aegean islands, where they organized front-line services for incoming refugees. Two EMDR-Europe accredited Consultants- Psychologists who worked intermittently for the organization supporting staff were requested to visit and provide staff with psychological support for one day at two different sites. The visit’s goal was to monitor and support the staff’s psychological needs in a one-day visit to each island. Baseline assessment of all of the participants took place via initial Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUD’s), PTSD Checklist-5 (PCL-5), and Stress Symptom Survey(SSS). The intervention involved EMDR trauma education, stabilization techniques, and the EMDR, Group Traumatic Episode Protocol G-TEP. Hence, the intervention’s purpose was to allow staff to reflect on their experiences and proceed with G-TEP to reprocess critical incidents related to traumatic exposure in their work. All participants’ follow-up assessments took place via PTSD Checklist-5 (PCL-5) and Stress Symptom Survey(SSS) the same day, right after the intervention. Overall, the results indicated that 27 (out of 43) participants reported higher PTSD scores before the intervention with G-TEP than after. Moreover, 31 participants had higher stress symptoms before the intervention with G-TEP than after. Both results were at a statistically significant level. In addition, results showed that 34 participants reported an improvement in the degree of disturbance after the intervention with G-TEP than before. Thus, the results indicated that EMDR, G-TEP protocol intervention is able to lead to a decrease of currently held distress and disturbance in a small sample of humanitarian workers. Group EMDR therapies and Trauma Focused CBT appear to be promising interventions in the field of refugee and asylum seekers care. The current results showed that the limited single session of EMDR, G-TEP intervention also lead to some decrease of vicarious trauma and stress symptoms in a small sample of humanitarian workers and indicate that future research could investigate whether further reductions may be possible with additional sessions, on consecutive days.

Journal

English

Penny Papanikolopoulos
Anna Nikolaou
Tessa Prattos
Christina Zourna

Papanikolopoulos, P., Nikolaou, A., Prattos, T., & Zourna, C.

Papanikolopoulos, P., Nikolaou, A., Prattos, T., & Zourna, C. (2021).  In response to an emergency: Trial use of EMDR group traumatic episode protocol for humanitarian workers on Greek islands. Cognitive-Behavioral Research & Treatment, 7(2), 9-16