A qualitative analysis of barriers, challenges, and successes in meeting the needs of Hurricane Katrina evacuee families.

Community Ment Health J

University of North Dakota, Corwin-Larimore Rm. 215, 319 Harvard Street Stop 8380, Grand Forks, ND 58202-8380, USA.

Published: December 2012

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.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10597-011-9446-1DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

hurricane katrina
8
disaster relief
8
service providers
8
qualitative analysis
4
analysis barriers
4
barriers challenges
4
challenges successes
4
successes meeting
4
meeting hurricane
4
katrina evacuee
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!