Providing psychological aid and crisis intervention for the civilian population during an emergency situation

This diploma thesis bears the title: Providing psychological aid and crisis intervention for the civilian population during an emergency situation. The theoretical part aims to survey the development and present state of psychosocial aid system in the Czech Republic, including individual subjects and organisations that provide help in places affected. The research is based on qualitative and quantitative surveys. The qualitative part was realised by means of a non-structured interview with a defined clinical psychologist and the main psychologist of the Fire Rescue Service of the Region of Karlovy Vary. I have fulfilled the objectives of my thesis in the following way: 1. to describe the structure and functionality of the psychological intervention system, 2. to assess experts{\crq} readiness to provide aid to victims of an emergency situation. The quantitative survey method included collecting data from the randomly chosen samples of 150 citizens who thus expressed their opinions of the questions of crisis intervention and psychological aid, from their own point of view. The research was conducted in the Region of Karlovy Vary. The structure of the psychosocial aid system came into being in 1997, when these questions started to be given more attention both from state authorities and non-profit-organisations, and commercial institutions. The fundamental state body that manages and coordinates the psychosocial aid system is the Interior Ministry, which has a post-traumatic intervention care system, elaborated in relation to citizens affected and in relation to intervening units, and that cooperates with the Integrated Rescue System (IZS) and foreign subjects. The results of the questionnaire survey are an integral part of my research. The civilian population has basic information about psychological aid, which they assess as an important factor for mastering mentally demanding situations. This diploma thesis is structured in such a way that provides the reader with a complex overview of the current state of psychosocial aid. I also aim, by means of my thesis, to point out the fact that there is no professional post-traumatic care in our health care system