Evaluation of an ultra-brief psycho-education and referral intervention provided to patients presenting to a hospital emergency department with symptoms of panic attack

Abstract

People who experience panic attacks are frequent utilisers of hospital Emergency Departments (EDs). The ED setting provides an opportunity to provide ultra-brief interventions, specifically by referring these patients to specialist mental health care. This study attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of an ultra-brief psycho-education and referral intervention, a panic information card (PIC), currently distributed at three Victorian EDs. Participants were a convenience sample of 72 individuals (20 males and 51 females, 1 unspecified) who had presented to an ED for panic symptoms in the past 12 months. Individuals self-identified as either a card receiver (CR) or a non-card receiver (NCR). Two senior ED staff members were interviewed regarding their evaluation of the effectiveness of the PIC. It was hypothesised that CRs would; (1) review the PIC favourably; (2) be more likely to seek help for PA than NCRs; (3) seek help sooner than NCRs; and (4) seek help on fewer occasions post-intervention than NCRs. Staff were hypothesised to review the card favourably and as a simple addition to ED practice. Both CRs and staff reviewed the PIC favourably, though there were no significant differences in help-seeking behaviour or time taken to access help between groups. CRs sought help on significantly fewer occasions than NCRs. Despite limitations of non-randomisation and modest sample size, this study contributes to evidence on the utility of ultra-brief interventions and supports the potential of ultra-brief ED-based interventions to expedite mental health referral, decrease utilisation of ED by panickers, reduce financial costs for the medical system, and increase psycho-education of sufferers.