Table 4 Information identified about the psychosocial care response, Paris 13 November 2015 attacks, France. Acute = first hours/days after attacks. Medium/long-term = weeks/months/years after the attacks

Acute

Individuals who were in the unsecure areas of the attacks: 381 according to report.

The first responders, including 430 firefighters from the Paris Fire Brigade, civil security associations (e.g., the Civil Protection, Red Cross, Order of Malta), the police, gendarmerie (military police) and the SAMU (emergency medical services/paramedics).

The first responders provided psychosocial support to non-injured persons in the areas of the attacks and collected information about their identity, as far as possible.

[63]

Acute/ medium

Survivors, their families, the bereaved, witnesses and others affected by the attacks.

Emergency psychosocial support units (CUMPs) from Paris and other departments in France. There is a national network of CUMPs. Every department has a CUMP organized by the regional health agency and connected to the SAMU. They are composed of voluntary health professionals such as psychiatrists, psychologists and nurses trained to provide early psychosocial care in crisis. The CUMPs are headed by a psychiatrist.

CUMPs conduct defusing to alleviate acute stress and standardized assessments to assess the risk of future posttraumatic stress reactions. They usually intervene only during the first month, and provide information about access to healthcare after the acute phase. They may assist in accessing appropriate follow-up with, e.g., GPs or psychiatrists in order to prevent PTSD and other mental health disorders. On 14 November 2015, the Health Emergency Medical Centre coordinated the organization of psychological support. CUMPs were established in two Parisian town halls, at the Military School and the Legal and Forensic Medicine Institute. The city of Paris held information campaigns, and people affected by the attacks could come spontaneously to receive consultations. In the first 20 days after the attacks, 316 practitioners from the CUMPs intervened, i.e., approximately 1/5 of the CUMP practitioners that could potentially be mobilized in France.

[63,64,65,66,67]

Acute

646 persons impacted by the attacks: 424 directly involved (injured, life threatened or in contact with dead victims), and 222 bereaved or indirectly affected by the attacks.

Psychiatrists, psychologists and CUMP practitioners at a provisory psychological care set-up at the Hotel-Dieu Hospital in the centre of Paris, organized in response to the terrorist attacks. Collaboration with emergency doctors at the hospital.

Psychological care was typically provided by pairs of psychiatrists and psychologists at the hospital. The psychological care set-up was located next to somatic services which could facilitate the provision of psychological care in addition to treatment of injuries. There was also a forensic unit in this hospital where physical and mental health consequences of the attacks could be recorded for legal purposes. This post-attack psychological care set-up remained open approximately 4 weeks after the attacks.

[67]

Long-term

Survivors and the bereaved from the attacks.

CUMP practitioners.

At the anniversary of the attacks and the re-opening of the Bataclan theatre 1 year after the attacks, CUMP practitioners were present to provide psychosocial care if needed.

[68]

Long- term

Victims of the attacks.

French Victim support associations that were members of the French Victim Support and Mediation Institute (“l’Institut National d’Aide Aux Victimes et de Médiation (INAVEM)”, today named France Victimes).

The French Victim support associations that were members of the French Victim Support and Mediation Institute offered free psychological support to the victims. They additionally offered consultations for legal or social support.

[69, 70]

Long- term

Those directly exposed to the attacks with physical or psychological sequelae, the bereaved, and the relatives of injured survivors (spouse, cohabiting partner bound by civil union, ascendants and descendants up to the third degree, brothers and sisters).

Mental health practitioners in the public health services, in the private sector participating in the public health services, and in the liberal private sector (e.g., private practices, private clinics).

Patients could be referred by their general practitioners, the CUMP or associations like France Victimes and receive fully reimbursed consultations with psychiatrists and medication if needed. These consultations/medications could be fully reimbursed during 2 years, given that it was requested within 10 years after the terrorist attacks.

[70]