Health Impacts of Hurricane Katrina on Vietnamese-American New Orleanians

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We know little about how refugees and other types of immigrants respond to the shock of subsequent displacement and other disruptions following a disaster in their destination country. Comprehensive health data collected just weeks before Hurricane Katrina struck for a Vietnamese immigrant sample living predominantly in the heavily-flooded lower ninth ward of New Orleans possess extraordinary potential as baseline measures for investigating how immigrants fare after such disasters. The overall objective of the study is to assess the medium term (4-5 years) effects of a natural disaster upon the health of a recent immigrant population by employing a wide range of physical and mental health measures in a longitudinal research design. This will be accomplished by collecting a subsequent round of health data for the original cohort of first-generation working age Vietnamese-American New Orleanians who were surveyed during the period May - July of 2005 (T0), just prior to Hurricane Katrina, as part of a separate NIH small grant focusing on the health and well-being of Vietnamese immigrants. Two comprehensive health re-assessments of this cohort taken at 1 year (T1) and 2-years (T2) post-disaster are already complete. The subsequent round for the research proposed here would occur 5 years post-disaster, during the fall of 2010 (T5). These longitudinal health survey data are supplemented with extensive qualitative in- depth (n=48) and key-informant (n=20) interviews. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: VanLandingham, Mark Jennings Public health significance: This project provides the only opportunity for tracking the health of New Orleans' largest immigrant population post-Katrina using pre and post-event population-based data. This information is essential for assessing the future mental and physical health needs of this population as they move forward post-Katrina.