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

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.