We seek support to continue mental health needs assessment tracking surveys in the Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group (CAG) beyond the two waves (baseline and one-year follow-up) for which we were originally funded. This request is based on the realization that the enormous devastation and slow pace of reconstruction after Katrina are likely to lead to delayed-onset mental disorders and slower recovery than in more typical disasters, making it important for needs assessment tracking to be extended beyond the originally planned 12-month follow-up period. We also seek support to add children and adolescents from the participating CAG households to the sample in order to examine the impact of Katrina on the mental health of young people. The two additional interviews would occur two years and three years after baseline. We also seek support to analyze these results, to prepare scientific reports, and to prepare and archive a public use dataset. The project is strongly related to the mission of the National Institute of Mental Health. The data in the additional surveys will be of great practical value to mental health program planners in the affected areas and of considerable scientific value in advancing our understanding of risk and protective factors for mental illness after major disasters. The current research design is based on a probability sample of 3000 adults (ages 18+) who were residents of the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina and who were recruited to participate in a CAG in which surveys would be carried out repeatedly over time to track the course of recovery from the hurricane. Multiple list sample frames (e.g., FEMA relief sample, American Red Cross relief sample, integrated safe list samples) were used to recruit the sample in order to deal with the practical problem that many eligible people were displaced by the hurricane and lived elsewhere in the country at the time of recruitment. Weighting was used to adjust for differential probability of selection and non-response bias. A one-year follow-up interview is near completion. The sample will now be refined to include a probability sub-sample of 500 children (ages 4- 12) and 500 adolescents (ages 13-17) living in the CAG households who will be interviewed in conjunction with the two-year and three-year follow-up surveys of the adult sample. Analyses of the baseline data have already produced useful information about the prevalence and correlates of mental illness and barriers to seeking treatment. The follow-up surveys will allow us to monitor late-onset mental disorders, speed of recovery, patterns of treatment, and the time-lagged predictors of these outcomes. The project has high relevance to public health because efficient public health planning requires access to accurate data on unmet need for treatment. The current sample provides the only such data on the population affected by Hurricane Katrina. The project has high relevance for advancing scientific understanding of disaster-related psychopathology, especially information on predictors of course of illness, because of the protracted nature of the infrastructure reconstruction and the fact that we will be following the sample much longer than in typical disaster studies. Project Narrative: We seek support to continue mental health needs assessment tracking surveys in the Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group (CAG) beyond the two waves (baseline and one-year follow-up) for which we were originally funded based on the realization that the enormous devastation and slow pace of reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina are likely to lead to delayed-onset mental disorders and slower recovery than in more typical disasters. We also propose to add children and adolescents from the participating households to the sample in order to examine the impact of Katrina on the mental health and treatment of young people. These extensions of the current research have high relevance to public health because efficient public health planning requires access to accurate data on unmet need for treatment and the current sample provides the only such data on the population affected by Hurricane Katrina. ? ? ? ?
| McLaughlin, Katie A; Berglund, Patricia; Gruber, Michael J et al. (2011) Recovery from PTSD following Hurricane Katrina. Depress Anxiety 28:439-46 |
| Shear, M Katherine; McLaughlin, Katie A; Ghesquiere, Angela et al. (2011) Complicated grief associated with hurricane Katrina. Depress Anxiety 28:648-57 |
| McLaughlin, Katie A; Fairbank, John A; Gruber, Michael J et al. (2010) Trends in serious emotional disturbance among youths exposed to Hurricane Katrina. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 49:990-1000, 1000.e1-2 |
| McLaughlin, Katie A; Fairbank, John A; Gruber, Michael J et al. (2009) Serious emotional disturbance among youths exposed to Hurricane Katrina 2 years postdisaster. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 48:1069-78 |
| Kessler, Ronald C; Keane, Terence M; Ursano, Robert J et al. (2008) Sample and design considerations in post-disaster mental health needs assessment tracking surveys. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res 17 Suppl 2:S6-S20 |
| Kessler, Ronald C; Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich (2008) Post-disaster mental health need assessment surveys - the challenge of improved future research. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res 17 Suppl 2:S1-5 |
