Central System of Psychosocial Support to the Czech Victims Affected by the Tsunami in Southeast Asia

2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (S1) ◽  
pp. S27-S31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stepan Vymetal
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Psychosocial Support ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
First Aid ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Psychological First Aid ◽  
Tsunami Disaster

AbstractThe Tsunami disaster affected several countries in Southeast Asia in December 2004 and killed or affected many tourists, most of them from Europe. Eight Czech citizens died, and about 500 Czechs were seriously mentally traumatized. The psychosocial needs of tourists included: (1) protection; (2) treatment; (3) safety; (4) relief; (5) psychological first aid; (6) connecting with family members; (7) transportation home; (8) information about possible mental reactions to trauma; (9) information about the normality of their reaction; (10) procedural and environmental orientation; (11) reinforcement of personal competencies; and (12) psycho-trauma therapy.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic was in charge of general emergency management. General coordination of psychosocial support was coordinated under the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic, which is connected to the Central Crisis Staff of the Czech Government. The major cooperative partners were: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Health, Czech Airlines, psychosocial intervention teams of the Czech Republic, and the Czech Association of Clinical Psychologists.The main goals of relief workers were: (1) to bring back home the maximum number of Czech citizens; (2) to provide relevant information to the maximum number of affected Czech citizens; (3) to provide relevant information to rescue workers and professionals; and (4) to prepare working psychosocial support regional network.Major activities of the Ministry of Interior (psychology section) included: (1) establishing a psychological helpline; (2) running a team of psychological assistance (assistance in the Czech airports, psychological monitoring of tourists, crisis intervention, psychological first aid, assistance in the collection of DNA material from relatives); (3) drafting and distributing specific information materials (brochures, leaflets, address lists, printed and electronic instructions); (4) communicating via the media and advertising; and (5) providing analysis and research studies.Central coordination of psychosocial support has been found as successful in the first phase after the disaster. The plans must be built for preferable cooperation in the psychosocial field in the Czech Republic. Better collaborates with journalists must exist in order to reduce secondary psycho-trauma.There is a need for intensive international cooperation in the psychosocial field and to build the network at the global level.

Effectiveness of Psychological First Aid Training for social work students, practitioners and human service professionals in Alberta, Canada

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-21
Author(s):  
Nasreen Lalani ◽  
Julie Drolet
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Psychosocial Support ◽  
Social Work Students ◽  
First Aid ◽  
Human Service Professionals ◽  
Psychological First Aid ◽  
First Aid Training

Psychological First Aid (PFA) is becoming a universally accepted intervention in providing psychosocial support to individuals and families affected by trauma or disaster.  Our study aimed to measure the effectiveness of a didactic and simulation based Psychological First Aid (PFA) training program in Alberta, Canada.  Social work students, practitioners, and human service professionals from Calgary, Edmonton, and Lethbridge were invited to attend the training.  A total of 90 participants attended the training at three different sites. A pre and post survey questionnaire was administered to all the participants before and after the training.  Findings showed that the training has significantly improved participants’ PFA knowledge and perceived competence in PFA skill.  PFA training enhanced their confidence, disaster preparedness, and self-care strategies needed to provide psychosocial support to individuals and families in disaster situations. Our study provides preliminary evidence supporting the effectiveness of the PFA training program among social work students, practitioners and human service professionals for future disaster preparedness in Alberta, Canada.Keywords: Psychological first aid, social work, disaster preparedness, training, competency, effectiveness, Canada

scholarly journals Does the Implementation of DAC 5 Represent a Breach of Attorney Confidentiality?

2019 ◽  
pp. 525-534
Author(s):  
Tomáš Sejkora
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Money Laundering ◽  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
The Law

This contribution is devoted to an issue of the correlation between anti-money laundering measures and measures combating tax evasion. This problem is widely discussed and the regulation requiring sharing tax relevant information between tax and AML authorities begins to occur. The example is the well-known directive DAC 5 and its transposition into the national legal orders which initiated the discussion about the nature of the confidentiality of the lawyer and the attorney–client privilege once again. This contribution therefore analyses the new obligation imposed on attorneys by the law implementing DAC 5 in the Czech Republic. The used scientific methods are description, analysis, induction and deduction.

scholarly journals Role of Czech Republic in the Development of Belarus Civil Society

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 54-61
Author(s):  
Mikhail Vedernikov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Support For Democracy ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Integral Feature

The reaction of the Belarusian authorities to the August 2020 demonstrations, drew strong condemnation from the Czech Republic. The article analyzes the reasons for such close attention of the Czech officials to the Belarusian problems. The historical context of the Czech Republic’s support for the Belarusian opposition is outlined; revealed the human rights and value aspects of the foreign policy of Prague, where support for democracy and human rights is an integral feature of Czech diplomacy at its present stage of development. The author examines the «Program of Transformational Cooperation» of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He comes to the conclusion that the Belarusian direction has always been among the priorities and has not disappeared from the agenda. However, the stability of the Belarusian regime led to the fact that the Czechs began to contribute to the development of democracy in other countries, where its «implantation» was more real.

scholarly journals Psychological First Aid: Experience of International Organizations

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 36-41
Author(s):  
Yaryna Kaplunenko
Keyword(s):  
Acute Stress ◽  
Psychosocial Support ◽  
Traumatic Event ◽  
Recovery Process ◽  
First Aid ◽  
International Medical ◽  
World Health ◽  
Stressful Event ◽  
Psychological First Aid ◽  
The Impact

The turbulent shocks of recent decades—man-made and natural disasters, political instability, pandemics, and military conflicts—highlight the need for psychosocial support for victims. To plan and train those who can provide it, a number of guidelines have been developed at the global and national levels, within international medical organizations that can minimize the impact of the crisis and start the recovery process. The article presents the definition of the concept of Psychological First Aid (PFA), describes the key aspects, structure, time limits, and principles of activity; a description of three leading models of first psychological assistance in the context of international medical organizations: the World Health Organization (WHO), Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF), and the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health Preparedness, USA. The RAPID model of first aid and key competencies for psychosocial workers involved in helping victims are described. The principles and techniques of PFA meet four basic standards: they are based on the results of research of risks and resilience after injury; they are practical and suitable for use in the “field”; they meet the age characteristics of development; they take into account cultural differences. The chronogram of mental reactions to a stressful event and the provision of PFA to victims within international medical organizations is divided into four phases which should be taken into account in the organization of psychosocial support. The RAPID model is based on five aspects designed to alleviate acute stress: Rapport and Reflective listening; Assessment of needs; Prioritization; Intervention; Disposition. If control over bodily reactions, emotions, and thoughts in the victims are restored, the narrative of the event is completed and accompanied by appropriate reactions, emotions are accepted, self-esteem and self-confidence are restored, and a sense of the future appears, we can say that the person has successfully adapted to the traumatic event and is ready to move on.

scholarly journals Czech spoken in Bohemia and Moravia

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Šárka Šimáčková ◽  
Václav Jonáš Podlipský ◽  
Kateřina Chládková
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Slavic Language ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Uk ◽  
European Family

As a western Slavic language of the Indo-European family, Czech is closest to Slovak and Polish. It is spoken as a native language by nearly 10 million people in the Czech Republic (Czech Statistical Office n.d.). About two million people living abroad, mostly in the USA, Canada, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, and the UK, claim Czech heritage (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic 2009). However, it is not known how many of them are native speakers of Czech.

Czech Diplomacy: Challenges and Opportunities

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 595-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Institutional Culture ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Collapse Of Communism ◽  
Foreign Ministries

This article examines changes in the structure and operation of the Czech Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) after the collapse of communism through its entry into the European Union. Like all foreign ministries, the MFA must adapt to the changing nature of diplomacy, where the distinction between foreign policy and domestic policy has become increasingly blurred. The MFA must compete in a more crowded foreign policy-making environment. However, the MFA has also been transformed by the collapse of communism. The ministry has been purged and forced to reevaluate its operations, goals, and institutional culture. This article evaluates the success of the MFA in meeting these significant challenges, and compares these reforms to the reforms of other ministries in the Czech Republic and other foreign ministries.

scholarly journals Borderland in regional development and the relevant research

Geografie ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Milan Jeřábek
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Grant Agency ◽  
Transitory Function ◽  
The Given

The geographic public receives another monothematic issue dedicated this time to the Czech borderland. Specific problems, conditioned by differentiated physical-geographical and mainly social-economic conditions of the given territory, have been studied since the 1930's. The 1990's have undoubtedly brought a new impulse to its development connected both with internal processes (democratization of the society, economic transformation, etc.) and external aspects (for instance its exposed position, transitory function, European integration). The running changes have become a challenge for researchers from different geographical work places studying, up to now in a more or less isolated way, only segments of the borderland (for instance those of Ústí nad Labem are interested in the Bohemian-Saxon border). Two similarly aimed projects monitoring the part of the Czech borderland, the importance of cooperation with neighbouring countries and integration of the Czech Republic into European structures have been solved with the backing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (1998-1999) and the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (1999-2000). The authors of the published papers mainly come from the work places involved in these two projects, but also other colleagues, including those from abroad, have been invited to take part. The intention of this volume is to stress the concrete problems or situations in the model borderland regions and to rise up a discussion on the problems of the borderland at present and in the future.

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