9/11: Persistent Mental Health Impact on WTC Survivors

描述（由申请人提供）：尽管包括俄克拉荷马城爆炸案研究在内的研究为指导9/11后早期心理健康干预提供了有价值的信息，但以前的灾难研究并不能使国家充分准备好应对9/11恐怖袭击造成的心理健康后果。需要新的研究来扩大与这种前所未有的大规模恐怖事件相关的知识。虽然新的研究已经检查了袭击对纽约市和全国间接受影响的居民的早期心理健康影响，但对受影响程度最高的人群——在飞机撞击后从世贸中心（WTC）高层逃生的幸存者——的深入精神病学评估还没有进行。经验丰富的华盛顿大学和俄克拉何马大学灾难研究小组的专业知识和资源与纽约市9/11研究联盟合作，建议采用最先进的方法对这一高度暴露人群的心理健康影响进行深入研究，现在该小组通过一年多的网络可以接触到这一人群。目前正在与幸存者进行焦点小组讨论，以指导改进我们针对9111经验的相关和独特方面的评估工具。拟议的研究将对400名受影响最严重的幸存者进行诊断性精神病学评估，其中包括世贸中心塔楼最高楼层的企业工作人员及其配偶/同居伴侣（同时获取他们子女的次要信息，为我们即将对他们进行的研究做准备）。研究样本将在最初评估两年后重新评估，以检查创伤后应激障碍和其他精神病理的纵向持久性。这项研究的目的是跟踪这一高度暴露人群的创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）和其他精神障碍以及持续治疗需求的过程（从9/11事件后的2年到6年），并研究他们对正义的看法以及参与研究对他们的负担。这些发现将对未来的研究产生重要影响。它们将为制定和执行干预措施提供信息，这些干预措施旨在使个人在灾后工作场所和与家人在家中恢复更充分的职能。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Previous disaster studies could not adequately prepare the nation to address the mental health consequences of the September 11 terrorist attacks, although research including the Oklahoma City bombing study provided valuable information to guide early post-9/11 mental health interventions. New studies are needed to expand knowledge pertinent to such unprecedented large-scale terrorist incidents. Although new research has examined early mental health effects of the attacks on indirectly affected residents of New York City and the nation's population, in-depth psychiatric evaluation of the most highly exposed population--survivors from the upper floors of the World Trade Center (WTC) who escaped after the planes struck--has not been carried out. The combined expertise and resources of the highly experienced Washington University and University of Oklahoma Disaster Research Teams in collaboration with a New York City 9/11 research consortium proposes to apply state-of-the-art methodology to conduct indepth research on the mental health effects on this highly exposed population now accessible to this team through more than a year of networking. Focus groups currently being conducted with survivors are guiding the refinement of our assessment tools for the relevant and unique aspects of the 9111 experience. The proposed study will conduct diagnostic psychiatric assessments on 400 of the most heavily exposed survivors including workers of businesses on the highest floors of the WTC towers, and their spouses/ cohabitating partners (also obtaining secondary information on their children in preparation for our upcoming research with them). The study sample will be reassessed two years after the initial evaluation to examine longitudinal persistence of PTSD and other psychopathology. The aims of the study are to follow the course (from 2 through 6 years post-9/11) of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychiatric disorders and ongoing treatment needs among this most highly exposed population, and to study their perceptions of justice and the burden of research participation on them. The findings will address important implications for conducting future research. They will inform the development and implementation of interventions aimed at restoration of individuals to fuller function in the post disaster workplace and at home with their families.