Framework for Research on Children's Reactions to Disasters and Terrorist Events

Abstract

Clinical work and research relative to child mental health during and following disaster are especially challenging due to the complex child maturational processes and family and social contexts of children’s lives. The effects of disasters and terrorist events on children and adolescents necessitate diligent and responsible preparation and implementation of research endeavors. Disasters present numerous practical and methodological barriers that may influence the selection of participants, timing of assessments, and constructs being investigated. This article describes an efficient approach to guide both novice and experienced researchers as they prepare to conduct disaster research involving children. The approach is based on five fundamental research questions: “Why?, Who?, When?, What?, and How?” Addressing each of the “four Ws” will assist researchers in determining “How” to construct and implement a study from start to finish. A simple diagram of the five questions guides the reader through the components involved in studying children’s reactions to disasters. The use of this approach is illustrated with examples from disaster mental health studies in children, thus simultaneously providing a review of the literature.

Health service utilization after terrorism: a longitudinal study of survivors of the 2011 Utøya attack in Norway

“…The current study contributes new insight into the long-term delivery of different types of health services to young survivors of terrorism. Prior research on disaster-related health service utilization is still limited, and has usually addressed adult survivors using a cross-sectional design, and not covered several services [ 7 , 8 , 34 ]. Our study included data from in-depth interviews at two time points after the attack.…”

“…Unfortunately, large unmet mental health needs have been documented after terrorist attacks [ 5 , 6 ]. However, prior research is sparse, and primarily includes cross-sectional studies confined to mental health service (MHS) utilization in adult disaster survivors [ 7 , 8 ]. Since terrorist attacks frequently involve children and adolescents, [ 7 , 9 , 10 ] more research is needed on utilization of different types of health services in young survivors, including their need of long-term health care.…”

Post-disaster stressful life events and WTC-related posttraumatic stress, depressive symptoms, and overall functioning among responders to the World Trade Center disaster

“…(Luft et al, 2012;Pietrzak et al, 2014;Chiu et al, 2011;Perrin et al, 2007;Brackbill et al, 2009;Perlman et al, 2011) These findings are generally consistent with the trauma exposure literature. (Pfefferbaum et al, 2012;van den Berg et al, 2012)..…”

Assessment Tools for the Mental Health of School-Aged Children and Adolescents Exposed to Disaster: A Systematic Review (1988-2015)

“…The scale that is used should be selected carefully to provide appropriate and critical feedback regarding the functional status and diagnosis of the subject. 8) The limitations of this study are as follows. The systematic literature review included an extensive search only for articles written in English.…”

“…Additionally, the post-disaster situation and diversity of research subjects complicate the selection of assessment tools. 8) Therefore, a comprehensive approach is needed.…”