Citation

Legerski JP, Vernberg EM, Noland BJ. Community Ment. Health J. 2012; 48(6): 729-740.

Affiliation

University of North Dakota, Corwin-Larimore Rm. 215, 319 Harvard Street Stop 8380, Grand Forks, ND, 58202-8380, USA, johnpaul.legerski@email.und.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10597-011-9446-1

PMID

22038420

Abstract

Hurricane Katrina caused many individuals to evacuate to towns and cities throughout the United States. Psychological First Aid (PFA) is a treatment program designed to help clinicians and other disaster relief workers address the needs of adults, youth, and families immediately following disasters. We conducted focus groups with disaster relief and evacuee service providers in the Kansas City Metro Area as an exploratory study to identify their perceptions of the needs of evacuees. Participants identified a number of mental health needs, as well as displacement-related challenges, including loss of social support, material loss, unemployment, and other stressful life events that were secondary to the hurricane. Many of these needs are consistent with principles presented in the PFA manual. We also found that service providers faced unique challenges when attempting to assist evacuees. We discuss implications of these findings for treatment programs and provide suggestions for addressing barriers to care.

Language: en