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Hurricane Survivors Experience Long-Term Mental Health Distress
As the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) worked to close the last trailer parks over the Memorial Day weekend that many Gulf-area hurricane survivors called home, the findings of a new study by researchers at the Mailman School's National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) suggest that displacement affects survivors' mental health. More than half of the study participants reported significant long-term mental health distress, even as they moved back to their original communities. These findings are published in the June 2008 issue of the American Medical Association (AMA) Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness journal.
"People who did not have strong informal support networks, who were afraid in their community, or who were more fatalistic were far more likely to exhibit mental health distress and disability," says lead study author David Abramson, PhD, MPH, director of Research at Mailman School's NCDP.
"People who did not have strong informal support networks, who were afraid in their community, or who were more fatalistic were far more likely to exhibit mental health distress and disability," says lead study author David Abramson, PhD, MPH, director of Research at Mailman School's NCDP.
Participants were interviewed face-to-face six to 12 months after Katrina, and a telephone follow-up was conducted at 20 to 23 months after the disaster. Over time, several factors were associated with better mental health-including a functional social network and a positive state of mind.
"These findings show that rebuilding communities - and their social support networks -can greatly contribute to people's recovery," Dr. Abramson concludes.
The article is available at /www.dmphp.org/pap.dtl.
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