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Enhancing Community Resilience in the Acute Aftermath of Disaster: Evaluation of a Disaster Mental Health Intervention
The Institute of Behavioural Science, Natural Hazards Center, Colorado University was awarded an R2HC rapid response grant in 2014 to 'Enhance Community Resilience in the Acute Aftermath of Disaster: Evaluation of a Disaster Mental Health Intervention'. Once conditions were triggered, the research team rapidly began their research in Haiti and Nepal.
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Principal Investigators: Courtney Welton-Mitchell & Leah James, University of Colorado.
What did the study set out to achieve?
This study aimed to evaluate a culturally-adapted community-based disaster mental health intervention. The intervention was designed to mitigate the impacts of an acute natural disaster among disaster-prone communities in Haiti (hurricanes, floods, earthquakes) and Nepal (floods, landslides). The study aimed to use a longitudinal randomised controlled trial design to determine if the intervention was effective in achieving its goal of enhancing community resilience. This would be achieved by improving mental health and increasing engagement in disaster preparedness and response, including enabling community members to care for themselves and provide assistance to others when a disaster strikes.
This was a rapid response grant in which baseline data collection was undertaken with 480 people in each of the two settings (flood-prone areas in Haiti and Nepal) prior to the occurrence of a particular natural disaster. Participants in the intervention groups were then invited to a 3-day disaster resource building training – Enhancing Community Resilience in the Acute Aftermath of Disaster – which was conducted by local partner clinicians. Subsequently both settings suffered significant flooding events during 2014 (Haiti) and 2015 (Nepal), enabling the full research to be triggered. In the immediate aftermath of the flooding all groups were re-interviewed, and again 3 months subsequently.
Leah James
co-PI, University of Colorado
Helping individuals to overcome mental health issues could enable communities to work together and take a proactive role in preparedness that will reduce the impact of natural disasters.
What were the key findings?
In Haiti, there were significant reductions in PTSD, depression and anxiety amongst intervention groups compared to control groups
In Nepal, there were some indications of reduced PTSD but not depression, and anxiety was not measured
Measures showed increased social cohesion and endorsement of disaster preparedness behaviours in both countries
Key outputs:
Community-based Disaster Mental Health Intervention: Curriculum manuals produced in English, Nepali and Haitian Kreyol
Dissemination workshops held in Nepal and Haiti for key national stakeholders
Community workshops for dissemination of research findings held in Nepal and Haiti
Service provider training undertaken
At least three peer-reviewed articles planned, focusing on the pilot studies and RCTs in both settings
Further work was planned by the study team to undertake additional statistical analysis and preparation of data sets for the public repository. Manuals were made publicly available for use in further settings.
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