Background: In November 2013, the Haiyan typhoon hit parts of the Philippines. The typhoon caused severe damage to the medical facilities and many injuries and deaths. Health professionals have a crucial role in the immediate disaster response system, but knowledge of their experiences of working during and in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster is limited. Aim The aim of this study was to explore health professionals' experiences of working during and in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster.
Method: Eight health professionals were interviewed five months after the disaster. The interviews were analyzed using phenomenological hermeneutic methods.
Results: The main theme, being professional and survivor, described both positive and negative emotions and experiences from being both a helper, as part of the responding organization, and a victim, as part of the surviving but severely affected community. Sub-themes described feelings of strength and confidence, feelings of adjustment and acceptance, feelings of satisfaction, feelings of powerless and fear, feelings of guilt and shame, and feelings of loneliness.
Conclusion: Being a health professional during a natural disaster was a multi-faceted, powerful, and ambiguous experience of being part of the response system at the same time as being a survivor of the disaster. Personal values and altruistic motives as well as social aspects and stress-coping strategies to reach a balance between acceptance and control were important elements of the experience. Based on these findings, implications for disaster training and response strategies are suggested. Hugelius K , Adolfsson A , Örtenwall P , Gifford M . Being both helpers and victims: health professionals' experiences of working during a natural disaster. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(2):117-123.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1049023X16001412 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Reducing self-stigma among survivors of childhood maltreatment: Randomized controlled trial of a brief video intervention.
Psychol Trauma
January 2025
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
Objective: Survivors of childhood maltreatment (CM) often experience self-stigma, the internalization of negative attitudes such as shame, self-blame, and a reluctance to disclose their experiences. These self-perceptions pose a significant barrier to treatment-seeking and may exacerbate psychiatric distress. Prior research indicates that social contact-based interventions are effective in reducing stigma, but no study to date has examined their impact on self-stigma and increasing openness to treatment-seeking among CM survivors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA randomized trial of virtual reality eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy for major depressive disorder with childhood trauma: A 3-month follow-up study.
Psychol Trauma
January 2025
Department of Psychiatry, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University.
Objective: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR) is effective in treating major depressive disorder (MDD) with childhood trauma, and virtual reality (VR) can further extend its application form. However, the utilization of VR-EMDR in treating MDD with childhood trauma is still in its infancy, and whether it can improve depressive symptoms and traumatic experience remains unknown.
Method: Seventy-two MDD patients were randomly allocated to the intervention group and the wait-list control group on a 1:1 basis.
Tired of being tired: Black college students' experiences of racial battle fatigue from highly publicized anti-Black violence.
Am J Orthopsychiatry
January 2025
Raymond A. Kent School of Social Work, University of Louisville.
The highly publicized murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery in 2020 sparked public outrage and widespread discussion around anti-Black violence. While some studies have examined the effects of anti-Black violence exposure on mental health outcomes, there is a paucity of research that explores how these racially charged events contribute to cumulative stress and "weathering" for Black people, particularly. Informed by racial battle fatigue theory, this in-depth qualitative study explored the lived experiences of 30 Black male and female undergraduate college students (aged 18-28) exposed to highly publicized acts of anti-Black violence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEye posture and screen alignment with simulated see-through head-mounted displays.
J Vis
January 2025
Magic Leap Switzerland GmbH, Zürich, Switzerland.
When rendering the visual scene for near-eye head-mounted displays, accurate knowledge of the geometry of the displays, scene objects, and eyes is required for the correct generation of the binocular images. Despite possible design and calibration efforts, these quantities are subject to positional and measurement errors, resulting in some misalignment of the images projected to each eye. Previous research investigated the effects in virtual reality (VR) setups that triggered such symptoms as eye strain and nausea.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImplant-based reconstruction and adjuvant radiotherapy in breast cancer patients-current status and DEGRO recommendations.
Strahlenther Onkol
January 2025
Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Purpose: The aim of this review is to give an overview of the results of prospective and retrospective studies using allogenic reconstruction and postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) in breast cancer and to make recommendations regarding this interdisciplinary approach.
Materials And Methods: A PubMed search was conducted to extract relevant articles from 2000 to 2024. The search was performed using the following terms: (breast cancer) AND (reconstruction OR implant OR expander) AND (radiotherapy OR radiation).
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!