Research Project (RP) 2 - Gulf Coast and Family Health (GCAFH)

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Project Summary Within the realm of disaster recovery, US policy has principally focused on the recovery of place rather than the recovery of person. Although the research community has examined the impact of disasters on individuals, the focus has often been on psychopathological effects, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety, or psychosomatic disorders. Little work has been done to examine the long- term arc of recovery in disaster victims, why and how such recovery varies among various sub-populations, and the interventions that might accelerate that process. This study capitalizes on a large contemporary disaster cohort, the Gulf Coast Child and Family Health study, and the partnership with other major Katrina cohorts and studies being conducted as part of the Katrina@10 Program. This work will extend and refine a socio-ecological model of disaster recovery. Based upon in-person structured interviews and on qualitative focus groups, the research will examine the social, psychological, and ecological factors associated with individual recovery. Accordingly, the specific aims of the project include: (1) developing a better understanding of long-term recovery, as both an outcome and as a process; (2) developing a better understanding of the factors that predict long-term recovery, from multiple perspectives (individual, household, and neighborhood-level); (3) exploring the ways that recovery differs between youth exposed to disasters and adults exposed to disasters; (4) and refining and testing a model that could predict disaster recovery, based on publicly available secondary data and limited socio-demographic information. This research is important for a number of reasons. First, it addresses a significant need to develop outcome measures specific to long-term recovery. Second, it advances an empirical basis for socio-ecological models of post-disaster consequences, which has largely been lacking in the research literature. Third, a socio-ecological framework can inform disaster recovery policy, potentially accelerating re-settlement and return to productive capacity. Fourth, the model has broader relevance to disparities research, particularly as it relates to precursor factors associated with social vulnerability.