Psychology is the study of the mind and usually relates to individuals rather than society or large groups. In the case of crisis management and response degrees for psychology, the focus of study is about using psychological skills in emergency situations to help victims of trauma. Degrees might include basic psychology, trauma counseling and clinical psychology. The focus relates to emergencies such as natural disasters, terrorism or similar large-scale crises. There are also degrees in psychology that work only on the family level of crisis and family emergencies, rather than large-scale trauma, such as working with a family that was involved in a major accident or abuse situations. Colleges and universities around the country have psychology programs available both at the undergraduate level and at the master's or doctorate level. To obtain a degree in crisis management and response as it relates to psychology, the best options are clinical course studies, which deal in counseling of various problems.
Emergency and disaster management is a degree designed for managing large-scale emergencies and disasters. The degree is usually associated with groups such as the military, police or homeland security that must handle emergency situations and go into disaster zones to help deal with situations. Degrees are available for a bachelor's or master's program at a variety of four-year universities, such as California University of Pennsylvania or American Military University. Students take classes in leadership, law, science, homeland security and management.
Fire fighting has its own category for disaster-management degrees. These degrees are often associated with fire fighters, military or similar groups. The management skills learned in this line of study involve not only saving lives, but also managing large-scale fires. The degree is an undergraduate degree called "fire science management" and is available at schools like the American Military University. The courses are offered online, making it ideal for military service men and women, firefighters, police or any other protective group in which students might need to move or have limited time. A bachelor's in fire science is available at a number of four-year colleges nationwide.
An emergency-management degree is a general degree designed for emergency or crisis situations. The degree covers a wide range of emergencies from natural disasters to fires to terrorism. The degree provides information about how to handle the situation, keeping things as calm as possible and saving as many lives as possible. The degree is available at a variety of universities such as North Dakota State University, the University of Maryland and the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The students study emergency situations, response actions for various potential threats to the public such as fires, earthquakes and terrorism, and management of emergency response crews.
Business degrees sometimes have emergency management skills as part of the degree, or focus on handling emergencies. Degrees such as business administration or a master's in leadership partially focus on managing and dealing with emergency situations within the business and with employees. In the case of business emergencies, the education is part of higher educational classes, but is not a specific degree. Instead, crisis management or business emergencies are taught as classes with leadership or management courses.