Predictive effect of psychological first aid practice self-efficacy on disaster response self-efficacy in nursing students: a cross sectional study

Background: Disasters pose significant physical and psychological challenges, highlighting the importance of psychological preparedness among nurses. Psychological first aid (PFA) is a key early intervention for addressing psychosocial needs during emergencies. Aim: This study examined whether nursing students' self-efficacy in practising PFA predicts their disaster response self-efficacy. Methods: A cross-sectional design was used. Data were collected from 316 nursing students at a single university in Türkiye using the Personal Information Form, the Disaster Response Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Psychological First Aid Practice Self-Efficacy Scale. Results: PFA self-efficacy was positively associated with disaster response self-efficacy and explained 40.5% of its variance. Each one-point increase in PFA self-efficacy corresponded to a 0.38-point increase in disaster response self-efficacy. Conclusion: These findings show that self-efficacy in PFA is an important predictor for disaster response self-efficacy in nursing students and highlights the critical role of this skill in disaster preparedness. However, due to the cross-sectional design and single-institution sample, causal inferences cannot be made and generalisability is limited, particularly to nursing education contexts with different cultural, educational or institutional characteristics.