The impact of disaster on culture, self, and identity: increased awareness by health care professionals is needed.

Self, identity, and culture are important psychosocial concepts in the analysis of how individuals perceive self in social context, self across the lifespan, and self in relation to cultural context. Contemporary theories emphasize the importance of a holistic perspective and promote the idea of identity as opposed to self-concept. This article explores the application of these ideas to disasters to provide guidance for health care professionals on how disasters impact individuals, groups, and communities. Disasters have a major impact on social infrastructure and culture, and in turn result in a range of human responses. Placing identity and maintenance of cultural integrity at the heart of practice,health care professionals are encouraged to take a holistic perspective across all phases of the disaster. Individuals, groups, and communities exhibit a range of responses influenced by levels of vulnerability or resilience. Facilitating expression of feelings related to the disaster experience is an important focus for health care. Always working within the cultural context and being sensitive to the rituals related to remembering and mourning help preserve dignity and possibly facilitate creation of a new identity and a revised culture after a disaster.