Meeting mental health needs following a natural disaster: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina.

Hurricane Katrina had a devastating impact on hundreds of thousands of Louisiana and Mississippi families. Housing was destroyed, jobs were lost, and family members were separated, sometimes in different states and without communication. Postdisaster stress reactions were common, with vulnerable individuals most affected. Mental health services were not adequate to meet immediate needs, and postdisaster mental health issues often emerge over time. This article describes the mental health needs of dislocated and evacuee children and families and the steps that were taken to develop mental health programs that would be sustainable over time to meet this new level of need. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists and Hurricane Katrina: Natural disaster response through training, public education, and research.

The purpose of this article was to describe a model of clinical/disaster psychology and illustrate how one psychologist applied training in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The primary focus of the article relates to training graduate students of clinical psychology and assisting evacuees, public education and dissemination, and research. Psychologists may find themselves in similar positions when disasters occur in the future, and the linkage of research and theory with anecdotal accounts may provide mental health professionals with ideas regarding avenues of training to pursue and the various roles that may be served in times of disaster. Recommendations are offered to training programs with regard to infusing tenets of clinical/disaster psychology into their curriculum. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reestablishing mental health services in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, following Hurricane Katrina.

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast causing widespread residential displacement, unemployment, and compromised social networks for the residents of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Symptoms of grief, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, adjustment disorders, and psychosis were anecdotally reported among clinic patients during the authors' deployment to the parish in December 2005 (4 months post-Katrina). These anecdotal reports were confirmed through the analysis of survey data that were collected during the authors' follow-up visit in August 2006 (11 months post-Katrina). In collaboration with the United States Public Health Service, the parish has prioritized restoring medical and mental health services to the parish in its efforts to rebuild and repopulate. Implications for mental health practice and public policy are summarized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Crisis and disaster counseling: Lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and other disasters.

Reviews the book, Crisis and disaster counseling: Lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and other disasters edited by Priscilla Dass-Brailsford (see record 2010-00735-000). This book is an excellent text for clinicians who respond to and work with clients in crises resulting from disasters. The book consists of 15 chapters covering distinct, yet related, topics. Whereas some chapters deal exclusively with Hurricane Katrina, others have a broader focus, offering insight that will be helpful in responding to any crisis. Geared toward clinicians, the text is written in clear, easily comprehended, concise prose. Each chapter is structured in a similar fashion and contains chapter highlights as well as practical implications presented in bullet points for easy review. Readers of this book treating trauma and traumatic grief in children and adolescents will not be disappointed. The seasoned crisis worker will benefit from the unique information gained from those who responded to Hurricane Katrina, both immediately and long after the destruction. The novice clinician will begin to gain an understanding of the complexity of working with those in crisis and the challenges and implications of such work that need to be considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: A personal story of a psychologist from New Orleans.

The author, a psychologist living in New Orleans and specializing in trauma work, describes her personal story in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The immediate response to the crisis, her personal feelings related to the devastation of her community, and ways to organize a mental health response are elaborated. The author describes the work of the trauma team from the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in providing immediate outreach and mental health services on the cruise ships set up to house first responders in New Orleans, in schools, and in the community. The author describes psychological first aid in crisis response and provides vignettes illustrating the experiences of first responders, children, and families. Finally, the lessons learned by the author are elaborated. Along with negatives, positive lessons can be learned with such a life-transforming experience. The importance of recognizing vicarious traumatization is emphasized as well as the crucial need for self-care for victims, survivors, and mental health providers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lessons from Katrina: Disaster mental health service in the Gulf Coast region.

In this article, 4 mental health professionals provide firsthand accounts of experiences as volunteers in the Gulf Coast region following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the fall of 2006. These accounts are provided with the goal of informing psychologists and other mental health providers about the role of volunteers from a frontline perspective. The authors offer these observations as a compliment to formal training in disaster preparedness that psychologists might receive for volunteer service in the wake of a devastating disaster. Specifically, the authors discuss the training they received, the settings in which they worked, and the client needs and mental health skills they used to meet those needs. Last, the lessons the authors learned about providing disaster mental health services are discussed. It is hoped that these observations might inspire others to lend their expertise and compassion in response to future catastrophic events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dirty dozen: Twelve failures of the Hurricane Katrina response and how psychology can help.

This comprehensive analysis addresses the United States' alarming lack of preparedness to respond effectively to a massive disaster as evidenced by Hurricane Katrina. First, a timeline of problematic response events during and after Hurricane Katrina orients readers to some of the specific problems encountered at different levels of government. Second, a list of the "Dirty Dozen"--12 major failures that have occurred in prior disasters, which also contributed to inadequate response during and after Hurricane Katrina--is presented. Third, this article encourages expanding psychology's role beyond the treatment of trauma to encompass disaster planning and mitigation efforts from a broader public health perspective. Finally, areas for important interdisciplinary research in human behavior that will influence our nation's overall preparedness for future catastrophes are identified, and ways psychologists can become personally involved beyond treating casualties are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Collaborating with African American churches to overcome minority disaster mental health disparities: What mental health professionals can learn from Hurricane Katrina.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how mental health professionals and African American pastors and their churches could collaborate to overcome minority disaster mental health disparities. Forty-one African American pastors of churches located in south Mississippi, in counties directly affected by Hurricane Katrina, participated in semi-structured interviews approximately 1 year after the storm. The majority of participants reported being interested in collaborating with mental health professionals to: (a) develop educational and outreach opportunities, (b) lead assessment procedures, (c) offer consultation activities, (d) provide clinically focused services, and (e) utilize spiritual resources and support. Participants provided further insight into how these collaborative activities could be modified to meet post-disaster needs and offered novel applications. Following from these discussions, the article provides a number of recommendations that can be used to aid in the development of disaster collaborative activities between African American pastors and churches and mental health professionals to serve minority communities while also decreasing disparities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A tale of two studies of two disasters: Comparing psychosocial responses to disaster among Oklahoma City bombing survivors and Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

Purpose: An accumulation of disaster mental health research literature in the last few decades has contributed knowledge to direct disaster mental health interventions. However, no single set of principles can necessarily outline all anticipated mental health needs to be encountered in a particular disaster. Methods: To illustrate how different disaster scenarios may yield a divergence of mental health needs, this article compares mental health findings from two distinctly different studies of two very different populations affected by two very different disasters: directly exposed survivors the Oklahoma City bombing and sheltered evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. Results: Research on the two disasters reviewed illustrates many facets and complexities of postdisaster mental health needs in different populations in different settings after different types of disasters. The major findings of the Oklahoma City bombing study related to posttraumatic stress disorder and the main findings of the Hurricane Katrina study involved need for treatment of preexisting chronic mental health and substance abuse problems. Conclusion: The disaster studies in this review diverged in type of disaster, affected populations, setting, and timing of the study, and these studies yielded a divergence of findings. One disaster mental health model clearly cannot adequately describe all postdisaster scenarios. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of Katrina: Shedding light on things forgotten.

Volunteering on a disaster mental health team to assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina can affect a psychologist in a number of ways that cannot be known until after the experience has taken place. Such an event will have a unique impact based on who the person is, on his or her life experience, and on what activities he or she conducted. This article shares the impact this experience has had on a psychologist who had never before been involved in a disaster mental health effort. The focus is on how this experience has helped to shape and influence the author's present clinical work, both as a practitioner and program administrator. Rather than learning anything completely novel or foreign, instead, this experience has shed light on things known but that were in some ways forgotten or less fully appreciated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Our Katrina experience: Providing mental health services in Concordia Parish, Louisiana.

Responding to the call for psychologists to serve Louisiana and the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, 2 school psychologists spent almost 2 weeks in central Louisiana in early September 2005. They were located in a rural area and provided mental health services to evacuees from Hurricane Katrina in a number of small shelters, an RV park, and the schools. This article describes their experiences as mental health volunteers and the impact those experiences had on their professional and personal lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A preliminary investigation of family coping styles and psychological well-being among adolescent survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

The relation between family coping styles and psychological well-being was compared for adolescents (12-17 years) displaced by Hurricane Katrina and currently living in a relocation camp (n = 50) and nonaffected adolescents (n = 31) matched on age, race, and socioeconomic status. Adolescents in the Katrina sample reported a family mobilizing strategy that reflected an increased reliance and seeking of extra-familial, community-based support but lower self-esteem and more symptoms of distress and depression. Follow-up analyses suggested that the relations between group differences in participants' hurricane-related trauma experiences and greater psychological distress may be mediated in part by the family coping strategy; exposure to increased levels of community-provided support may have unintended consequences on adolescents' psychological health. These results highlight the importance of future research on both potential benefits and costs of family coping styles in adolescents affected by a large-scale disaster. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factor structure of the acute stress disorder scale in a sample of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

Acute stress disorder (ASD) is a poorly understood and controversial diagnosis (A. G. Harvey & R. A. Bryant, 2002). The present study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the factor structure of the most widely used self-report measure of ASD, the Acute Stress Disorder Scale (R. A. Bryant, M. L. Moulds, & R. M. Guthrie, 2000), in a sample of Hurricane Katrina evacuees relocated to a Red Cross emergency shelter in Austin, Texas. Results indicated that the proposed 4-factor structure did not fit the data well. However, an alternate 2-factor model did fit the data well. This model included a second-order Distress factor (onto which the Reexperiencing, Arousal, and Avoidance factors loaded strongly) that was positively correlated with the Dissociation factor. Implications for the ASD construct and its measurement are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Public mental health: The role of population-based and macrosystems interventions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Policy makers and decision makers are struggling to recognize the needs of shattered communities in the wake of unimaginable devastation. Professional psychology is providing some of the answers as it examines the consequences of disaster. The authors, 6 U.S. Public Health Service commissioned officers, describe their experiences in this new arena. Working at the federal, state, and local levels of government during the national response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster, the authors strive to identify high-value practice areas and define new roles for professional psychologists. The authors suggest that traditional crisis and trauma interventions are expanding to include nontraditional population-based and macrosystems-level interventions. Such roles are explored in narrative form, providing professional and personal insight into the impact that psychologists can have on decision makers who recognize their value and position them effectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Postdisaster supervisor strategies for promoting supervisee self-care: Lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina.

The purpose of this article is to provide supervisors with postdisaster strategies for promoting supervisee self-care. These recommendations are based on relevant disaster mental health and supervision research along with the authors' experiences of supervising and teaching in a university setting following Hurricane Katrina in South Mississippi. Supervisory examples from the authors' hurricane experiences are also provided to highlight each recommendation. A supervisee self-care tool is offered to aid supervisors in their efforts to help supervisees develop positive coping responses in the event of a disaster. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental health services in Louisiana school-based health centers post-Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Louisiana school-based health centers (SBHCs) were called on to respond to a sharp increase in mental health needs, especially for displaced students coping with grief, loss, trauma, and uncertainty. To assess the impact of the hurricanes on the students and the needs of SBHC mental health providers (MHPs), we surveyed MHPs in each of the SBHCs under the auspices of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Public Health. SBHC practitioners from around the state reported that mental health service utilization rose during the 2005-2006 school year, but utilization of services increased most significantly in schools receiving the majority of displaced students. Anxiety and adjustment problems were noted as increasing the most following the hurricanes. A multitude of other conditions was also reported. By the time of this survey in April 2006, the reported prevalence of most symptoms had declined, but all remained above their pre-hurricane levels. Self-reported needs of SBHC MHPs are also discussed in light of the major natural disasters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life-long learning for psychologists: Current status and a vision for the future.

As a profession we are committed to maintaining and enhancing our competence as psychologists in order to most effectively serve the public throughout our careers. While this is a widely shared commitment among psychologists, there is considerably less consensus regarding how best to accomplish this goal. This dilemma is examined from the ethical, educational and legal perspectives. The American Psychological Association (APA) Ethics Code clearly articulates that competence is an ethical duty, although there is little guidance provided in the code as to how to meet this standard. As a profession we have tended to focus on the construct of life-long learning and we have incorporated this principle into our education and training standards. In fact, APA accreditation requires that doctoral programs inculcate this value into our foundational training. The majority of Psychology Licensing Boards have addressed this issue through the endorsement of mandatory continuing education requirements that primarily focus on hours and the content or structure of approved programs. Potential limitations to our ability to effectively self-assess our professional training needs are discussed and several innovative models are presented for integrating effective self-assessment and continuing education. Three invited experts provide commentaries that further explore the challenges and dilemmas posed by the ethical, legal and professional duty to maintain and enhance competence throughout our professional careers. These commentaries broaden the considerations, provide practical suggestions from other professions and provide a vision for the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resource loss and relocation: A follow-up study of adolescents two years after Hurricane Katrina.

The long-term psychological impact of Hurricane Katrina was assessed among students (N = 636) at two high schools in southeastern Louisiana. Displaced students from the greater New Orleans area were compared with nondisplaced students on several factors. Displaced students reported higher levels of general psychological distress (GPD) and posttraumatic stress (PTS). Age, resource loss, relocation time, relocation distance, self-esteem, optimism, storm exposure, and gender were then assessed in separate regression models predicting GPD and PTS. Both hierarchical regression models were significantly predictive. Self-esteem, relocation distance, optimism, resource loss, and storm exposure were significant predictors of GPD. Resource loss, relocation time, storm exposure, and self-esteem were significant predictors of PTS. As expected, gender did not make significant contributions to either model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizing chaos: Crisis management in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Applying the model of crisis management (D. Smith, 1990), this case study of the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in New Orleans chronicles the organization's response to Hurricane Katrina and illustrates the unique aspects of this crisis, as well as the well-worn patterns this organization faced in the year following the storm. We describe the organizational challenges associated with various stages of crisis and identify the strengths that facilitated this organization's successes. Practical and theoretical suggestions are provided for how organizations and organizational psychologists can learn from the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe. Five lessons are summarized for helping organizations better prepare for future crises. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Community psychology: Impressions of the Boston conference on the education of psychologists for community mental health.

Mental health "is shifting from the amelioration of illness to preventive intervention at the community level… community psychology is more than a by-product of clinical… it depends upon and interacts with all the basic areas of psychological knowledge. Particular emphasis [is] given to the contributions of social psychology, group dynamics, and child development." The Conference recommended that "some permanent organizational medium be established… to facilitate communication among psychologists with vital interest in community psychology." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)