Implementation of Mental Health Programs for Survivors of Natural
Disasters in Latin America
Handbook of International Disaster, Vol 2, chapter 4
Edit. Gilbert Reyes
& Gerard A. Jacobs
Praeger, Conn.USA,
2006
Author’s
Note: The first
part of this chapter presents the evidence of the recurring impacts of
disasters occurring in Latin America. The remainder of the chapter,
published below, focuses on adapting the knowledge accumulated through the worldwide
experiences of workers who assist survivors. The public health model
offers a structure to apply these lessons toward a preventive guidance
model. It also supports the establishment of a "culture of
preparedness" for countries who regularly suffer the consequences of these
catastrophes.
Why Public. Mental Health Models for
The region of
This grassroots tradition
can be used to build the foundation,
first-level system of an integrated health-mental health emergency program. The organization of
their health delivery system, ranging from simple “posts” linked to primary health teams, to clinics and to hospitals,
lends the basis for integrating emergency mental health following a
disaster (Lima, 1987). It can be
accessed to build a system of preparedness for disaster response according to
the natural dangers endemic in
their region.
Organization Components of the Model
Additional components that
could improve effectiveness immediately after a disaster and beyond include mental health principle
education, guidelines for evaluating victims, communication technology linking
providers and service units, and basic resources allocation. After the
immediate postdisaster days, the regional governments would link their teams to
the local groups (including teachers and clergy) in a “seamless system” of
planned and organized approaches (Myers, 1994). A public health model would
serve as a set of coordinated and
integrated guiding directions to
the expectations and objectives chosen by the region.
Few regions are currently
capable of fully developing and
organizing this integrated
model, but they can start
becoming aware of what resources are available. They can then identify the programs that are fragmented and have not been linked and integrated with the different organizations needed to develop
the integrated program. Other communities may not have the component at the
present, but they may build them during a period of time available according to their resources. It would
be helpful for regions that have histories of disasters to have some preventive
models to use as they obtain resources
and experiences. For instance,
in El Salvador there are accounts of seven earthquakes occurring between 1575
and 1854.
Use of Telecommunication to Enhance Disaster Programs
Today, with the capacity of the Internet and computer technology, the ability of sharing knowledge across vast, distant regions is a reality. Using the
methodology published and available
on the Web worldwide, it is practical to consult, train, and problem-solve from the initial impact of a
disaster to the final days of mental health programs months or years later,
when all the experts, consultants, and agencies have left. A network of expert
consultants could be identified and organized in advance to assist government
officials when needed. They could provide technical advice for disaster
policies, plans, and programs, which could assist in developing effective
mental health interventions that
adequately integrate language, tradition, culture, and other local resources.
Objectives of the Public Mental Health Model
The aim of a public health model is to promote the prevention and mitigation of negative effects on the health of populations. In disaster experiences, where little cross-cultural research has been published, much is known from experience. Knowledge can be increased from research publications done in countries outside Latin America (Lima, Chavez, Samaniego, & Pal, 1992). This knowledge supports the belief that it is possible to strengthen the coping skills of individuals to deal with a disaster and to prepare them specifically to lessen its effect. A disaster-preventive public health model could be conceptualized to address “primary prevention” in all the activities structured to prepare and educate the population in countries of known risk in Latin America for the most often occurring disasters in their territory. Secondary prevention activities would describe the activities that would be instituted postdisaster to assist all citizens who have been traumatized and who could be helped using teams of local, native helpers and paraprofessionals supervised by mental health professionals available in that region. “Normal reactions to abnormal situations” would be differentiated from emerging signs and symptoms that could indicate pathological syndromes in need of further care from professionals (Lima et al., 1992). Tertiary prevention would consist of assistance to individuals with clear manifestation of chronic pathological signs and who would need specialized mental health intervention for a longer period of time (Logue, Hansen, & Struening, 1981).
Training, Planning,
Organizing, and Delivering Postdisaster Mental Health Programs for Latin America
Governmental and nongovernmental emergency agencies should help to organize and coordinate disaster mental health programs at community and regional levels according to each country’s Emergency Planning Legislation (Myers, 1994). Although most countries have national guidelines to deliver emergency services, few have elaborated their mental health component. Training and identifying individuals who assist survivors to respond effectively to the aftermath of disasters are a constant necessity in countries buffeted by disasters. The workers may come from a variety of professional backgrounds and levels of education. Latin American countries must sometimes wait hours or days before outside help is available, and so the first responders are typically community citizens who can respond immediately. Therefore, their knowledge of how to offer crisis assistance is paramount.
The mix and match within the groups assembled after a disaster will vary according to the region of the continent in which the disaster occurs and according to the human resources available. The initial response to an emergency, or “first disaster,” will evolve as time goes by and the mental health assistance becomes organized, and training activities to address the specific needs of the survivors will change according to the characteristics of the “second disaster” (i.e., the challenges and frustrations that follow the disastrous event). This period may present housing, bureaucratic, and interpersonal difficulties, adding to the citizens’ problems (Cohen, 1990).
Adequate preparation for disaster response
includes training the workers of mental health and human services agencies (Red
Cross, nongovernmental organizations, public, religious) that will deliver
postdisaster counseling assistance including outreach activities, crisis
intervention, and referral services. Training has to be adapted continually as
survivors move through the different phases of the adaptive process. Continuous
supervision and training is needed throughout the duration of the program as
content keeps changing according to the postdisaster developmental phases.
Curriculum content can be found through the Internet and computerized searches.
A repository of disaster documents has been accumulated and can be obtained
from the
Table 4.1 identifies a public health prevention program that organizes the type of assistance to fit the needs of survivors at each phase of postdisaster development. These transitional phases are used as a way to guide the appropriate intervention. Workers use this model worldwide and modify it to match local tradition, culture, religious customs, resources, and political environments.
The phases are relevant to the behavior and reactions of individuals who initially are threatened by a disaster, receive the impact of the disaster, and then beging the reconstruction, rehabilitation, and adaptive efforts of individual and community activities. Although preventive plans may be written in national mental health emergency programs, many communities only begin to mobilize mental health assistance several weeks after the impact, because of the lack of resources. Many of the programs that should be instituted rapidly when the threat is imminent could be developed in countries where disaster occurs frequently.
Table 4.1
Disaster Assistance Public
Health Model
|
|
Primary |
Secondary |
Tertiary |
|
Threat Phase |
· Collaboration with emergency agencies · Mental health program development · Community organizing · Consultation · Public education · Professional education |
|
|
|
Impact Phase |
· Organize local help and link with survival efforts · Assist families during burials or shelter services · Children and elderly first aid assistance · Outreach |
· Crisis intervention · Consultation to emergency and medical personnel |
· Counseling · Collaboration with housing · Group therapy |
|
Short Term |
· School programs · Consultation · Education |
· Counseling · Collaboration with housing · Group therapy |
· Clinical care for all ages and conditions |
|
Long Term |
· Support programs |
· Family guidance · Consult to community |
· Care of chronic patients – physical & mental |
Threat Phase
Methods of raising public awareness in countries at elevated risk for disasters include consultation with emergency agencies, education of the public through the mass media, and shortwave radio programs, including planned meetings, workshops, and conferences. The primary purpose is to educate people about ways of modifying the effects of a disaster by preparing to take care of themselves and their communities. To prepare and assist children and their family, school programs offer an excellent venue to transmit knowledge (Earls, Smith, Reich & Jung, 1988). These messages should be crafted with sensitivity to the cultural beliefs and the ages of the children (Dana, 1993; Mileti, 1996).
Primary Prevention – Immediate Threat Phase
Modern technology has developed the capability to forecast many natural disasters with the use of weather satellites, radio signals, and television. Earthquakes are the disaster that still surprise populations, but new building codes in some countries are mitigating the consequences of these tremors. When populations are forewarned of a threatening disaster and are given the probabilities of risk, the possibility of assisting them within the public health model exists. As shown in Table 4.1, there are multiple approaches that will maximize prevention and minimize damages. Communication, education, and coordination with emergency agencies prepare a community to act during the threat phase. It will be helpful to identify and develop a list of all the available resources that can be used during an emergency. Many of these activities, including integrated, documented plans with agencies and organizing a disaster response program for mental health, take time. There is a relation between the time expended in achieving these objective and the effectveness of response when the threatening catastrophe is approaching.
Impact Phase
Primary
Prevention
The immediate effect of a disaster is to dramatically and
catastrophically alter the situation.
Individuals in the affected areas will immediately mobilize themselves and
participate with the efforts of rescue,
shelter, and safety for the ns.
During this phase, they will
organize themselves in the most drastically affected areas and apply their knowledge of first emergency aid while waiting for resources from the outside.
Following the news that a disaster has occurred, the mental
health authorities of the region need to start organizing programs of
assistance and linking to community leaders to obtain data
about the event.
After the first days, when the issues of survival, shelter, food, and water are the priorities, mental health issues present themselves as needing attention. These issues will continue for a longer period of time than expected by most communities (Green, Grace, Lindy, Gleser, Leonard, & Kramer, 1990). The following list presents a summary of the key issues that will need to be addressed when organizing and delivering a public health response to mitigate the mental health consequences of a disaster. If plans for preparation training of mental health teams are identified during the threat phase, then the activities necessary to implement the program are ready to go during the impact phase. It is expected that the mental health teams are organized trained and can be deployed to the geographic area of the disaster, they will link with the organized, locally prepared groups and leaders. They need to be self-supporting in relation to shelter, food, transportation, and security. The following are activities that have been found helpful in assisting survivors of disasters in coordination with the local groups.
Outreach
These activities aim to
provide emotional support during the acute period following a disaster and can
be organized in shelters or congregated
groups in devastated communities. Outreach assists survivors in expressing and
understanding disaster-caused stress and
grief reactions, aiding individuals to return to a state of equilibrium
and function. Information is given to
clarify that their reactions and behavior are normal and expected to result
from the abnormal situation in which they suddenly find themselves
(Cohen, 1982).
Assist Families during Burials
When death occurs following
a disaster, families constitute a population at risk and in need of preventive
mental health services (Kohn & Levav, 1990). The
degree of loss, which may include loved ones, property, community, employment,
and familiar surroundings, may be overwhelming. The effect of these multiple
traumas in each individual is difficult to evaluate, but it is widely believed in clinical practice that the
number of traumatic events has a
relation with the difficulties
in coping exhibited by the individual.
Prevention
workers can also help in places where the dead are being kept (e.g., morgues)
or near the common burial trenches
where victims are sometimes
buried as a result of fear of epidemics. Collaboration with a spiritual or religious representative is
important in assisting survivors, especially when the body cannot be found or
rescued.
Assisting Survivors in Shelters
Intervention procedures include the assessment
of the survivors in shelters. The
shelter mental health worker
will have to evaluate the condition of he survivors and their ability to deal with problems and
cope with the challenges of the
crowded environment. A triage method to apportion resources needs to be
developed, guided by the ratio of needs to the number of helpers.
Interventions must be planned in terms of immediacy versus delay, depending on
the emotional status of the survivor and the capacity of the workers in the
shelter.
Intervention objectives for the survivors in a shelter include helping them achieve physical comfort and an increased capacity to organize their living area, as well as support to resolve problems with their surrounding survivors. The worker will mobilize available resources to help the survivors reorder their environment as the days (or weeks) go by, alleviate emotional frustrations that emerge at the slowness of the public assistance, and cope with the difficulty in waiting for the reconstruction phase with the promise of new homes.
One
of the most difficult tasks for
workers is supporting survivors who ire dealing with the difficulties of living in shelters with minimal privacy, few comforts, lack of facilities for cooking or washing clothes,
and fear of losing their meager possessions. Helping people to feel relatively
comfortable in such a setting is an important goal. People of all ages reside in these places and each age group’s needs may require different categories
of resources, knowledge, and skill from the assigned worker. Therefore, programs to assist children have become a major
component of the activities for workers in shelters. The objectives of these
programs are to assist the children in recuperating and adapting to the trauma
and a new living situation,
is well as to support the parents in their efforts to deal with their own
lives and exert their parental roles.
Secondary Prevention
Triage decisions during
outreach activities identify the families
that will need crisis
intervention. This interactive process
can be defined as “an active intervention
technique that restores survivors’ capacity to cope and handle stressful situations and provides structural
assistance for restoring and reorganizing their unfamiliar world” (Cohen, 2000). Collaboration, education,
and consultation with medical emergency personnel dealing with wounded
survivors will assist in the recovery toward a healthy outcome (Cohen, 1987).
Emergency personnel and
mental health workers will need well trained and constant support as long as
the program of assistance lasts. Techniques such as debriefing, defusing, and
critical incident assistance have been found to have merit in preventing the
signs of burnout in disaster personnel (Hartsough,
1985; Kenardy et al, 1996; Mitchell, 1986). Different
investigators who have raised question sover their
effectiveness have reviewed this preventive measure (Barron, 1999)
Tertiary Prevention
A percentage of the
population will be struggling not only with the effect of the disaster but also
with a myriad of health and mental health problems that preceded the disaster.
The need for referral or long-term professional services may be needed. Both
mental health services and physical chronic illnesses can be found in this
population (Shalev, Bonne & Eth, 1996; Ursano, Fullerton & Norwood, 1995).
Short-Term Phase
Primary Prevention
The program objectives for
consultation, education, and assistance change during the weeks and months
following the disaster. The acute phase is over, and now a new, postdisaster
phase, which can last months, emerges with different problems facing the
survivors. Mental health disaster workers can be trained to identify the new
problems, assist with their expertise, and help the local teams. Mitigation of
further deterioration of the capacity of survivors can be achieved during this
phase if preventive measures are taken. One important program that emerges is
the school program for children, parents, teachers, and administrators. Since
these individuals are congregated in schools, the opportunity to assist them as
a nuclear population appears very effective if they are educated about
preventive mental health approaches (Green et al, 1991). Women, as heads of
households, are an important group in underdeveloped countries. Workers can
assist them in their function as caregivers and help them obtain resources to
reconstruct their lives.
Secondary Prevention
Counseling Survivors
This process of assistance
can help individuals who need it or ask for it following a disaster. The more
information is shared with a community, the more they will become aware that
there are methods to ameliorate their problems. Training personnel to have the
capacity to counsel is one of the most active approaches in public health
programs. University psychology and public communication departments could be
very helpful in this phase.
Another group that will
need guidance is that of the survivors who have lost their homes and are frustrated
by the lengthy rebuilding schedule of the country. Housing is a perennial
problem in many communities of Latin America, and after a disaster it becomes a
source of deep emotional impact. It can lead to aggressive and unusual group
behavior, including violent protests against the authorities. Group therapy
programs can be organized and provided by communal leaders that incorporate
traditional and religious customs. These programs can be incorporated into the
usual gather rhythms of the community. This phase is beset by multiple
problems, however, emerging from political agendas, diminishing international
help and resources, increasing frustration, and disappointments resulting from
broken promises. It will be helpful if emergency agencies are prepared for
expected reactions that survivors may present some of these behaviors. They can
make effort to ameliorate its effect by anticipating this phase and by
preparing supportive and assisting programs. The public media can play an
important role to support healthy messages to the community but will need the
help from experts to guide them.
Long-Term Phase
Primary Prevention
A program of support
services needs to be extended to the traumatized individuals for longer periods
of time than generally is expected (Bland, O’Leary, Farinaro,
Jossa & Trevisan,
1996). When agencies are aware that percentage of individuals at risk are
unable to fend for themselves for a variety of reasons, their services can
include assistance in finding shelter, employment, and health resources. This
part of the preventive program is difficult for certain countries in Latin
America because of the lack of resources. In general, international assistance
is necessary for extended periods of time but is difficult to obtain.
Many of the residual, chronic cases
found in countries where no
prevention programs have been developed remain homeless and poverty stricken, adding to the unproductive
strata of society. Efforts to mitigate the effects of a disaster may lower the
number of these individuals. Traditional, local approaches should be instituted
to ameliorate he long-term effects of the trauma.
Secondary Prevention
Family assistance, either in groups or individually, should be provided to
families that are still manifesting
signs of struggling with problems
left by the aftermath of the disaster. Support for these families could be
sought in the additional or religious modality of their communities. Education
remains a method of strengthening the capacity of helping groups, months or years
later.
Tertiary Prevention
Most cases that are remaining months and years later present a variety of difficult problems, including mental or physical ailments. Although their numbers are small in relation to the total population that has turned to functioning in their community, it is a difficult population segment to ameliorate. In general, this group joins the chronic, unemployed citizens of their community. Linking them to welfare, religious, or volunteer support systems remains the only solution in regions where there is a lack of chronic care.
Summary
This chapter has presented
an overview of the occurrence of natural disasters in Latin America and their
effects on individuals and communities.
The morbidity and mortality produced
by the recurring disasters affecting the Latin American region indicates a need
to develop programs that can service hundreds of affected individuals. The
organization and deployment service modalities that integrate health and mental
health developed throughout the region lends itself to a rapid emergency
response. A public health model
is suggested to mitigate the effects of the catastrophic trauma. The procedures
known to help individuals through the threat, impact, and short and long phases
are identified. The historical knowledge accumulated, different types of
disasters, and the awareness of human
reactions to catastrophic events are
well known. The methodology and
services documented to be useful in
the last 30 years worldwide support the approach to implement a public health
modality to assist the traumatized populations in Latin American region.
Conclusion
The
historical knowledge accumulated during catastrophic experiences— and the realization that disasters are unique but that the effects on individuals
follow a similar sequence of coping
patterns allows for the accumulation of knowledge that can be adapted to
different regions of the world. The morbidity and mortality produced by the recurring disasters affecting
the Latin American region indicates a need to develop assistance programs that
can service hundreds of traumatized individuals. The organization and deployment of service modalities that
integrate health and mental
health services, a model used in many countries in the region, lends itself to
a rapid emergency response if they include psychosocial approaches. The use of primary
health centers supports a public health
approach to assist postdisaster effects on traumatized survivors. By offering
education, consultation, and crisis intervention through the threat, impact, and short and long
postdisaster phases, the possibility of mitigating the effects of the trauma
can be achieved.
Although preventive plans may be written in national mental health emergency programs, many communities only begin to mobilize mental health assistance several weeks after the impact, because of the lack of resources. Many of the programs that should be instituted rapidly when the threat is imminent could be developed in countries where disaster occurs with frequency. These activities should be operationalized and institutionalized within governmental systems in such a way that they do not change every time a new government takes the leadership of the country, but remain stable throughout the years.
References
Ahearn,
F. L.,Jr., & Cohen, R. E. (1984). Disasters and
mental health: An annotated bibliography.
DHHS Publication
Barron, R. A. (1999). Psychological trauma and relief workers. InJ. Leaning, S. M. Briggs, & L. C. Chen (Eds.), Humanitarian
crises: The medical and public health response (pp. 143—175). Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
Bates, F. L. (1982). Recovery, change, and development. A longitudinal study of the 1.976 Guatemalan earthquake (Vol. 1). Athens: University of Georgia Press.
Bland, S. H., O’Leary, E.
S., Faninaro, E.,Jossa,
F., & Trevisan, M. (1996). Long tern’ psychological
effects of natural disasters. Pry chosomatic Medicine, 58, 18—24.
Cohen,
R. E. (1982). Jntervention with disaster victims. In M. Killie
and H. S. Shulberg (Eds.), The modern practice of community mental health (pp. 397—441). San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Cohen, R.E. (1987). The Armero
tragedy: Lessons for mental health professionals. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 38, 1316—1321.
(1990). Post-disaster mobilization and crisis
counseling: Guidelines and techniques
for developing crisis-oriented services for disaster victims. In A. R.
Roberts (Ed.),
Crisis intervention handbook (pp. 279—299). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Cohen, R.E. (2000). Mental
health services in disasters: Manual for humanitarian workers Document 12855; Instructor’s guide,
Document 12856. Retrieved
Cohen, R.E. & Abeam, F. L. (1990). Manual de la atencion de la salud mental para victimas de desastres. Mexico: Harla.
Dana, R H. (1993). Multicultural assessment perspectives for professional psychology.
Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Earls, F., Smith, E.,
Reich, W, & Jung, K. (1988). Investigating psychopathological consequences of a disaster
in children: A pilot study incorporating a structured diagnostic interview. Journal of the
Flynn, B. (1999). Disaster mental health: The U.S. experience and beyond. In J. Leaning, S. Briggs, & L.
Chen (Eds.), Humanitarian crises: The
medical and public health response. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
Fuente, K (1986). Las consequencias
Gavalya, A. (1987).
Reactions to the 1985 Mexican Earthquaice: Case vignettes. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 38, 1327—1330.
Green, B.
L., Korol, M., Grace, M., Vary, M. G., Leonard, A. G., Gleser, G. C., et al.
(1991). Children and disaster: Age, gender, and parental effects on PTSD syrnptoms.Journal of the American Academy of Child &Adolescent
Psychiatry, 30, 945—951.
Green,
B.L., Grace, M. C., Lindy,J. D., Gleser, G. D., Leonard, A. C., & Kramer, T. L.. (1990).
Buffalo Creek
survivors in the second decade: Comparison with unexposed and nonlitigant groups. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology 20, 1033—1050.
Harrtsough, D. M. (1985). Stress and mental health interventions in three major disasters. In D. M. Hartsough & D. G. Myers (Eds.), Disaster work and mental health: Prevention and control of
stress among workers. DHHS Publication
Infantes, V., Veliz, J., Morales, J., Pardo-Figuero;
Kenardy,J. A., Webster, R. A., Lewin, TJ., Carr, V.J.,
Hazell, P. L., &
Carter, G. L. (1996). Stress debriefing and patterns of recovery following a natural disaster. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9, 3
3—49.
Kohn, K, & Levav,
Lechat, M. (1990). The public health dimensions
of disasters. International
Journal of Mental Health, 19, 70—79.
Lima, B. (1987). Manualpatra el trabajador de atencionprimaria en
salud mental para vicimas de desastres.
Quito: Ministerio de Salud Publica.
Logue, J., Hansen, H., & Struenlng, E. (1981). Some indications of the long-term
health effects of a natural disaster. Public Health Reports, 96, 67—69.
ad, M• (1985). Innovations in mental health
services to disaster victims.
Rockville, MD: National Institute of
Mental Health.
Mileti, D.
(1996). Psicolojia social de las alertas publicas efectivas de desastres. Desas‘esy Sociedad, 4(6), 104—116,
Mitchell, J. S. (1986). Crisis worker stress and burnout. In J. S. Mitchell and H. L. P. Resnik (Eds.), Emergency response to crisis. London: Prentiss-Hall International.
Myers, D. G. (1994). Disaster response and recovery: A handbook for mental
health professionals. DHHS Publication SMA 94-3010. Rockville, MD: National Institute
of Mental Health.
Prewitt, J. 0., & Saballos,
M. (2000). Salud psicosocial en ma desastre complejo: El effecto
Quaranteffi, E. L. (1999). Disaster related social behavior: Summary of 50 years
of research findings Preliminary paper. Newark, DE:
University of Delaware, Disaster Research Center.
Restrepo, H. E. (2000). Earthquake in Colombia: the tragedy of the
coffee growing region. Health
impact and lessons for the health sector. Journal of Epidemiology and
Community Health, 54, 761—765.
Shalev,
A. Y., Bonne, O., & Eth, S. (1996).
Treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder: a review. Psychosomatic Medicine, 58, 165—182.
Shriberg, J. (2000). Program of psychosocial
support for the Venezuela Red Cross. Washington, DC: American Red Cross.
Ursano, K J.,
Valero, 5.
(1996). Intervencion psicolojica en emergencias y desastres. Lirna: Ministerio
de Salud.
Woersching,J. C., & Snyder,
A. E. (2004). Earthquakes in