OBJECTIVE: Following a catastrophic natural disaster, the authors evaluated whether brief psychological intervention (debriefing 6 months later) reduced disaster-related psychological distress as measured by the Impact of Event Scale. METHOD: Two groups of subjects who had been exposed to Hurricane Iniki in Hawaii were assessed before and after participating in a multihour debriefing group. The intervention aimed to provide ventilation of feelings, normalization of responses, and education about normal psychological reactions to the disaster in a context of group support. To provide a partial control for the passage of time, the pretreatment assessment of the second group was concurrent with the posttreatment assessment of the first group. RESULTS: A repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that Impact of Event Scale scores were reduced in both groups after the treatment. CONCLUSIONS: There is preliminary empirical support for the effectiveness of postdisaster psychological intervention and for the feasibility of treatment research in postdisaster environments.
OBJECTIVE: Following a catastrophic natural disaster, the authors evaluated whether brief psychological intervention (debriefing 6 months later) reduced disaster-related psychological distress as measured by the Impact of Event Scale. METHOD: Two groups of subjects who had been exposed to Hurricane Iniki in Hawaii were assessed before and after participating in a multihour debriefing group. The intervention aimed to provide ventilation of feelings, normalization of responses, and education about normal psychological reactions to the disaster in a context of group support. To provide a partial control for the passage of time, the pretreatment assessment of the second group was concurrent with the posttreatment assessment of the first group. RESULTS: A repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that Impact of Event Scale scores were reduced in both groups after the treatment. CONCLUSIONS: There is preliminary empirical support for the effectiveness of postdisaster psychological intervention and for the feasibility of treatment research in postdisaster environments.
Authors: Fania R Gärtner; Sarah M Ketelaar; Odile Smeets; Linda Bolier; Eva Fischer; Frank J H van Dijk; Karen Nieuwenhuijsen; Judith K Sluiter Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2011-05-10 Impact factor: 3.295
Authors: Gang Wu; Adriana Feder; Hagit Cohen; Joanna J Kim; Solara Calderon; Dennis S Charney; Aleksander A Mathé Journal: Front Behav Neurosci Date: 2013-02-15 Impact factor: 3.558
Authors: Marie-Louise Essink-Bot; Michelle E Kruijshaar; Dirk J Bac; Pieter J Wismans; Frank ter Borg; Ewout W Steyerberg; Peter D Siersema Journal: Qual Life Res Date: 2007-07-17 Impact factor: 4.147