1Johor State Secretary Office, University Utara Malaysia
2University Utara Malaysia
3School of Applied Psychology, Social Work & Policy, UUM College Arts & Sciences, 06100 UUM Sintok Kedah Darul Aman, Malaysia
Received: 18th Oct, 2025; Revised: 27th Dec, 2025; Accepted: 24th Jan, 2026; Available Online: 14th Feb, 2026
Background: Civil servants are subject to different stress associated with their work including high pressure of work, public criticism, organizational changes, and the need to be responsible for what happens in terms of public welfare all inherently having subsequent impacts on their mental health and emotional well-being. The nature of the public service, its demanding service occupations as well as strict bureaucratic rules and political pressures makes individuals in such roles particularly vulnerable to psychological crises. However, in spite of the importance of civil servants in public life, there has been little systematic knowledge of successful crisis intervention strategies for this target group.
Objectives: To review the effects of crisis interventions on mental health and emotional well-being in a systematic literature review.
Methods: A systematic search of indexed databases (ScienceDirect, PubMed and Google Scholar) for peer-reviewed articles was conducted. Relevant papers published from 2014 – 2024 were screened based on topic, study design, intervention and outcomes reported. Eighteen studies were included in the review. A narrative synthesis approach to analysing extracted data for key findings on the effectiveness of crisis intervention was applied.
Results: A review of the included studies indicated that community-based crisis intervention show promise for further investigation. A total of 9 quasi-experimental, 6 CBT intervention and 3 pre-post comparison. Outcome There is statistically significant Psychotherapy 315 evidence base for crisis interventions, that is, CRTs (294) especially those based on CBT,96 or a structured workplace intervention. large positive changes in mental health and emotional wellbeing in civil servants. Pre-post effects were also consistent among studies that employed quasi-experimental designs, which reported improvements in anxiety and depression measures as well as occupational burnout in CBT treatments.
Conclusion: Crisis intervention services are an integral part of occupational health care for civil servants and have an immediate beneficial effect on psychological distress, as well as on short-term emotional well-being. This is supported by evidence to indicate that multimodal interventions, which combine individual therapy with organizational-level support mechanisms, are effective. Further work needs to be taken in terms of creating culture specific interventions that can be adopted across a wide range of civil service settings and standardised outcomes that reflect the unique profile of this population.
Keywords: crisis intervention; civil servants; mental health; workplace stress; emotional well-being
How to cite this article: Zaman NK, Ishak NA, Kamsani SR. A Systematic Literature Review: The Impact of Crisis Intervention on Mental Health and Emotional Well-Being in Civil Servant. Int J Drug Deliv Technol. 2026;16(2): 24-34. DOI: 10.25258/ijddt.16.2.5
Source of support: None.
Conflict of interest: None