SAFETY FUNCTION ACTION for Disaster Responders (SFA) trains a framework for achieving and maintaining a high level of disaster health. Within SFA, disaster health is defined as, “maximal safety, optimal function, and effective action in preparedness for, and response to, emergencies, disasters, and extreme events.” A set of six strategies forms the backbone of the framework with two strategies each for SAFETY (safeguard and sustain), FUNCTION (comfort and connect), and ACTION (advise and activate).

During 2008, a total of 2,553 participants were trained throughout the State of Florida. Participants were drawn from public health, healthcare, mental health, and professional/volunteer emergency responder workforces. During 2009, an additional 861 participants were trained as “SFA facilitators.” Facilitators were provided with guidance and training materials to return to their worksites and train peers on the SFA modules. Facilitators were in direct contact with a team of 5 DEEP Center “coaches” who supported their training efforts. To assess the training's effectiveness, pre/post-assessment data on the 2,533 SFA participants and 861 SFA facilitators were collected.

Live-training evaluation data showed highly favorable quality ratings for the course, materials, presenters, and all individual course components. Pre/post comparisons of the data indicated consistent gains in self-reported confidence ratings for all 7 “facilitator skills” (recruiting, motivating, training colleagues; teaching SFA skills, working with coaches) and 15 SFA “strategies and response skills” (applying the six SFA strategies to responders (self, family, team) and disaster survivors). Consistent gains were evident for 12 scales asking facilitators to self-report their comfort in dealing with disaster survivors exhibiting distress or suffering trauma and loss.

SFA has been launched as an online training course and a cell phone “app” is in progress. SFA has recently been trained in South America and Europe. Experiential components of SFA are being refined and expanded.