The proposed study would examine the influence of ethnicity and culture on psychosocial functioning following a major disaster. The focal event is Hurricane Andrew, which on August 24 1992 devastated southern Florida, a setting distinguished by its multi-cultural nature. A total of 360 adults would be interviewed, 180 in Dade County and 180 in a comparison county. A quota sampling strategy would provide approximately equal numbers of Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics, men and women, and younger (18-39), middle-aged (40-59), and older (60+) adults. Interviews would be conducted six months post-event in the respondents' current residences, in English or Spanish as preferred. The interview includes measures of psychological distress, life events, social support (kin, nonkin, outsider), help-seeking comfort, and cultural views (collectivism, fatalism, spirituality). The research has four specific analytic objectives: 1) to identify ethnic differences in post-disaster symptoms: 2) to explain those differences in terms of acculturative factors and related world-views; 3) to identify ethnic differences in social support, both in level and source of support; and 4) to explain those differences in terms of help-seeking comfort and related world-views. The final objective is to integrate findings from the above analyses into a culturally relevant (yet parsimonious) model of ethnicity, culture, and disaster response. Because it includes two minority populations and would explicate the role of different sources of support, the study should yield findings that are relevant to interventions in disaster-stricken communities.
| Norris, F H; Perilla, J L (1996) The revised Civilian Mississippi Scale for PTSD: reliability, validity, and cross-language stability. J Trauma Stress 9:285-98 |
