RAPID: Capital, Coping, and the Displaced: Health, Well-Being, and Resiliency Among Hurricane Harvey Evacuees

该项目将调查社会关系/资源在帮助公民从哈维飓风中恢复方面的作用。社区、工作场所、宗教组织和其他社会团体中的社会关系/资源对于帮助个人和家庭驾驭他们的日常生活至关重要。但当灾难来袭时，这些资源可能会被扰乱。考虑到飓风哈维的强度和持续时间，休斯顿地区的许多公民都经历了这些社会资源的严重中断，但一些人受到的影响比其他人更严重。这项研究将研究受哈维影响的人们如何使用社会资源，以及当旧关系破裂时，他们是否可以创造新的社会资源来帮助从灾难中恢复。它还将有助于确定谁的社会资源受到的不利影响最大。例如，与高收入人群相比，低收入人群的社会资源损失是更严重，还是与非少数群体相比，少数族裔群体的社会资源损失更严重？例如，这项研究还将确定，社区中的社会资源是否比教堂和工作小组等跨地域群体受到的损害更大。该项目将调查公民福祉的几个方面，包括社会关系/资源的性质和程度、焦虑、抑郁、适应和复原力。该项目将制定一个抽样框架，覆盖休斯顿和科珀斯克里斯蒂地区受灾最严重的几个县，并将使用40分钟的深度采访对300人进行调查。它将对那些搬迁容易的人以及那些有更多困难的人进行抽样。此外，大约一半的样本将来自位于收容所、教堂和其他服务提供者地点的公民，另一半大约来自重新安置到非收容所地点的公民，包括与朋友和亲戚合住。这种抽样策略将导致社会关系的强度、社会资源的深度以及社会背景特征的差异。调查工具发展良好，依赖于几项措施，并有可靠结果的可靠记录。此外，300次访谈将形成一个数据库，该项目将对其进行量化分析，从而能够使用成熟的统计工具来评估关键假设。该项目是快速融资的绝佳人选，因为社会关系和社会资源甚至在风暴来袭之前就已经开始瓦解，因为一些人可以很容易地疏散到安全的地方，而另一些人则因为各种各样的物质、社会和经济负担而留下来。现在，在此之后，社会资源继续流动，一些资源加强，另一些资源恶化。这项研究将为评估这些资源的动态变化提供一个基线，并解决社会科学中有关社会关系/资源在自然灾害中如何发展和衰败的模式的关键问题。最后，收集福祉指标，并评估其影响，为直接和间接参与备灾和救灾的组织提供宝贵的信息。它不仅应该帮助我们更好地了解哈维受害者目前是如何应对的，而且还应该提供信息，说明我们作为一个社会正在如何满足这些受害者的需求，从而展示美国社会关系/资源的广度和丰富，以及它的主要不足。

This project will investigate the role of social ties/resources in helping citizens recover from Hurricane Harvey. Social ties/resources in neighborhoods, at work, through religious organizations and through other social groups are vital for helping individuals and families navigate their daily lives. But when disaster strikes, these resources can be disrupted. Given the magnitude and duration of Hurricane Harvey, many citizens in the Houston area have experienced severe disruption to these social resources, but some have been more affected than others. This research will study how social resources are used by people affected by Harvey, and whether they can create new social resources to assist in recovering from the disaster when old ties are broken. It will also help to determine whose social resources have been most adversely affected. For example, is the loss of social resources more acute for lower compared with upper income people, or for racial minorities compared to non-minorities? The research will also determine whether social resources in neighborhoods, for example, have suffered more damage than those involving groups that cross geographic places, such as churches and work groups. The project will investigate several aspects of citizen well-being, including nature and extent of social ties/resources, anxiety, depression, adaptation and resiliency. This project will develop a sampling frame that covers several of the hardest-hit counties in the Houston and Corpus Christi areas, and will survey 300 people using in-depth, 40 minute interviews. It will sample people who relocated easily as well as those who had more difficulty. In addition, approximately half of the sample will come from citizens located in shelters, churches, and other service provider locations, and the other approximate half from citizens who relocated to non-shelter locations including doubling up with friends and relatives. This sampling strategy will result in considerable variation in strength of social ties, depth of social resources, as well as differences in social background characteristics. The survey instrument is well developed and relies on several measures with proven records of producing reliable results. In addition, the 300 interviews will form a data base that the project will analyze quantitatively, thus enabling use of well-established statistical tools to evaluate key hypotheses. The project is an excellent candidate for RAPID funding because social ties and social resources began to unravel even before the storm hit since some could easily evacuate to safety as others remained because of a wide array of physical, social, and economic burdens. Now, in the aftermath, social resources continue to be fluid, with some strengthening and others deteriorating. The study will provide a baseline for evaluating dynamic changes in these resources, and address key questions in social science regarding the patterns of how social ties/resources develop and decay in the midst of natural disaster. Finally, gathering indicators of well-being, along with assessing their impact provides valuable information to organizations directly and indirectly engaged in disaster preparedness and response. It should not only help us better understand how the victims of Harvey are currently coping, but provide information as to how we as a society are addressing the needs of these victims, thus demonstrating the breadth and wealth of America's social ties/resources, as well its major deficiencies.