The aim of the proposed study is to examine the immediate impact of the recent Iraqi missile attacks on civilian population centers in Israel. Early assessment of victims as well as documentation of their physical circumstances and the type of help they receive is essential, since the types of symptoms that appear, the coping mechanisms applied, and the interventions administered in the early post-disaster period may have critical bearing on future recovery. Subjects will be examined at two sociodemographically different sites (one lower class neighborhood and one middle class suburb). For each site, 100 evacuees whose homes were either damaged or totally destroyed will be assessed, along with 75 residents of the same neighborhood whose homes remained intact, and an additional 50 control subjects of similar socioeconomic status from another city that was not a target of missile attacks. The following factors will be assessed: symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), other psychiatric symptomatology, family environment, somatic complaints, cognitive schema of self and the world, and positive outcomes. The impact of the post-disaster environment and the various rescue and rehabilitation interventions will also be examined.
| Koslowsky, M; Solomon, Z; Bleich, A et al. (1996) Effects of stressful stimuli: a comparison between two time periods. J Clin Psychol 52:279-83 |
