9/11: Persistent Mental Health Impact on WTC Survivors

描述(由申请人提供)：以前的灾难研究不能充分准备好国家应对9·11恐怖袭击的心理健康后果，尽管包括俄克拉荷马城爆炸研究在内的研究提供了宝贵的信息来指导9·11事件后的早期心理健康干预。需要进行新的研究，以扩大与此类史无前例的大规模恐怖事件相关的知识。尽管新的研究已经调查了袭击对纽约市间接受影响的居民和全国民众的早期心理健康影响，但尚未对受影响最严重的人群--飞机被撞后从世贸中心(WTC)高层逃脱的幸存者--进行深入的精神评估。经验丰富的华盛顿大学和俄克拉何马大学灾难研究团队与纽约市9/11研究联盟合作，结合专业知识和资源，建议应用最先进的方法，对该团队通过一年多的网络接触到的高度暴露人群的心理健康影响进行深入研究。目前正在与幸存者一起开展的重点小组正在指导改进我们对9111事件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精神病学诊断评估，其中包括世贸中心塔楼最高楼层的企业工人及其配偶/同居伴侣(还获得有关他们子女的次要信息，为我们即将与他们进行的研究做准备)。研究样本将在初始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学的纵向持久性。这项研究的目的是跟踪创伤后应激障碍(PTSD)和其他精神障碍的病程(从911事件后的2到6年)和这一最高暴露人群的持续治疗需求，并研究他们对正义的看法和参与研究对他们的负担。这些发现将解决对未来研究的重要影响。他们将介绍制定和实施旨在使个人在灾后工作场所和家中与家人恢复更充分功能的干预措施。

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.