Suchergebnisse

A review of the forced relocation literature suggested that relocation following a natural disaster contributes to the environmental, social, and psychological stress experienced by cisastervictims. The present study was designed to examine the effects of relocation on the well-being of victims of Hurricane Andrew, a major disaster that hit south Florida in August 1992. Respondents were 404 residents of southern Dade County who were interviewed in their current residences 6 months after the hurricane. Results indicated that at 6 months post event, relocation was associated with higher levels of ecological stress, crowding, isolation, and social disruption. Moreover, relocation and ecological stress interacted to predict psychological symptoms: Relocatees living in poor conditions fared worse than either nonrelocatees who lived under comparable conditions or other relocatees who lived under better conditions.

To supplement a substantial literature on the symptomatic consequences of disaster, this article focuses on the adaptational requirements experienced by disaster victims, operationalized as the stressful life events following a severe flood that occurred in 1984 in southeastern Kentucky. In this study of older adults, life events were analyzed at three levels of specificity: as an aggregate measure reflecting the total amount of changes without regard to content, as seven content-oriented categories (Household Disruption, Financial Disruption, Family Conflict, Social Disruption, Health Disruption, Bereavement, and Good Things For Self), and as 40 specific events. In analyses that controlled for subjects' preflood resources, mental health, and sociodemographic characteristics, differences between victims and nonvictims in the number and types of life events experienced were tested. Overall, the findings suggest that older flood victims are more likely than other older adults to experience social disruption, but not necessarily the other six categories of life events. Most specifically, victims were found to be more likely than nonvictims to have friends/neighbors move away and to have new family conflicts; victims were less likely than others to have children leave home.

The Crisis Counseling Assistance and Training Program grants supplemental federal funding to states and territories for individual and community crisis intervention services in the aftermath of presidentially declared disasters. Little research has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of these services, and few data exist to guide policies and programs. A qualitative study of thirty-eight state program directors (representing 95 percent of all such programs over a five-year period) identified the numerous challenges that states experience when planning, applying for, implementing, maintaining, phasing out, and evaluating these federally funded programs. The results highlighted the importance of including mental health in state-level disaster plans, fostering collaborative relationships across institutions, clarifying program guidelines, sharing innovations across programs, and building state capacity for needs assessment and program evaluation.

The Crisis Counseling Assistance & Training Program grants supplemental federal funding to states & territories for individual & community crisis intervention services in the aftermath of presidentially declared disasters. Little research has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of these services, & few data exist to guide policies & programs. A qualitative study of thirty-eight state program directors (representing 95 percent of all such programs over a five-year period) identified the numerous challenges that states experience when planning, applying for, implementing, maintaining, phasing out, & evaluating these federally funded programs. The results highlighted the importance of including mental health in state-level disaster plans, fostering collaborative relationships across institutions, clarifying program guidelines, sharing innovations across programs, & building state capacity for needs assessment & program evaluation. Tables, References. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright 2006 The American Academy of Political and Social Science.]

Child development and adaptation are best understood as biological and psychological individual processes occurring within the context of interconnecting groups, systems, and communities which, along with family, constitute the child's social ecology. This first of two articles describes the challenges and opportunities within a child's social ecology, consisting of Micro-, Meso-, Exo-, and Macrosystems. The parent-child relationship, the most salient Microsystem influence in children's lives, plays an influential role in children's reactions to and recovery from disasters. Children, parents, and other adults participate in Mesosystem activities at schools and faith-based organizations. The Exosystem—including workplaces, spcial agencies, neighborhood, and mass media—directly affects important adults in children's lives. The Macrosystem affects disaster response and recovery indirectly through intangible cultural, social, economic, and political structures and processes. Children's responses to adversity occur in the context of these dynamically interconnected and interdependent nested environments, all of which endure the burden of disaster. Increased understanding of the influences of and the relationships between key components contributes to recovery and rebuilding efforts, limiting disruption to the child and his or her social ecology. A companion article (R. L. Pfefferbaum et al., in press) describes interventions across the child's social ecology.