Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T18:49:30.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Parents and Youth After Health-Related Disasters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2013

Ginny Sprang  and
Miriam Silman
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objectives

This study investigated the psychosocial responses of children and their parents to pandemic disasters, specifically measuring traumatic stress responses in children and parents with varying disease-containment experiences.

Methods

A mixed-method approach using survey, focus groups, and interviews produced data from 398 parents. Adult respondents completed the University of California at Los Angeles Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Reaction Index (PTSD-RI) Parent Version and the PTSD Check List Civilian Version (PCL-C).

Results

Disease-containment measures such as quarantine and isolation can be traumatizing to a significant portion of children and parents. Criteria for PTSD was met in 30% of isolated or quarantined children based on parental reports, and 25% of quarantined or isolated parents (based on self-reports).

Conclusions

These findings indicate that pandemic disasters and subsequent disease-containment responses may create a condition that families and children find traumatic. Because pandemic disasters are unique and do not include congregate sites for prolonged support and recovery, they require specific response strategies to ensure the behavioral health needs of children and families. Pandemic planning must address these needs and disease-containment measures. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2013;7:105-110)

Keywords

PTSDpandemicpsychosocialdisasters
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , February 2013 , pp. 105 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Chen, H, Deng, G, Li, Z, etal. The evolution of H5N1 influenza viruses in ducks in southern China. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2004;101(28):10452-10457.Google Scholar
2.McKibbin, WJ, Sidorenko, AA. Global Macroeconomic Influences of Pandemic Influenza. Sidney, Australia: Lowy Institute for International Policy; 2006.Google Scholar
3.Miller, MA, Viboud, C, Blainska, M, Simonsen, L. The signature features of influenza pandemic: implications for policy. N Engl J Med. 2009;360(25):2595-2598.Google Scholar
4.Relman, DA, Choffnes, ER, Mack, A. The Domestic and International Impacts of the 2009 H1N1 Influenza A Pandemic. Washington, DC: Institute of Medicine of the National Academies; 2010.Google Scholar
5.Woods, CR, Abramson, JS. The next influenza pandemic: Will we be ready to care for our children? J Pediatr. 2005;147(2):147-155.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.National Commission on Children and Disasters. Progress Report on Children and Disasters: U.S. Agencies Take Modest Steps to Achieve Mission Goal. Washington DC: Department of Health and Human Services; 2010.Google Scholar
7.Markenson, D, Redlener, I. Pediatric preparedness for disasters and terrorism. Presented at the National Consensus Conference. New York, NY: National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Mailman School of Public Health. March 2007.Google Scholar
8.Fiese, BH, Spagnola, M. The interior life of the family: looking from the inside out and the outside in. In: Masten AS, ed. Multilevel Dynamics in Developmental Psychopathology: Pathways to the Future. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group/Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 2007:119-150.Google Scholar
9.Luthar, SS. Resilience in development: a synthesis of research across five decades. In: Cicchetti D, Cohen DJ (eds.). Developmental Psychopathology: Risk, Disorder, and Adaptation, 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc; 2006:739-795.Google Scholar
10.Masten, AS, Obradovic, J. Disaster preparation and recovery: lessons from research on resilience in human development. Ecology Soc. 2008;13(1):9.Google Scholar
11.Blendon, RJ, Koonin, LM, Benson, JM, etal. Public response to community mitigation measures for pandemic influenza. Emerg Infect Dis. 2008;14(5):778-786.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Maunder, R, Hunter, J, Vincent, L, etal. The immediate psychological and occupational impact of the 2003 SARS outbreak in a teaching hospital. CMAJ. 2003;168(10):1245-1251.Google ScholarPubMed
13.Nicholas, DB, Koller, D, Gearing, RE. The experience of SARS from a pediatric perspective. Ontario Lung Association UPDATE. 2003;19(3):10.Google Scholar
14.Nicholas, DB, Gearing, RE, Koller, D, Salter, R, Selkirk, EK. Pediatric epidemic crisis: lessons for policy and practice development. Health Policy. 2008;88(2-3):200-208.Google Scholar
15.Hawryluck, L, Gold, WL, Robinson, S, Pogorski, S, Galea, S, Styra, R. SARS control and psychological effects of quarantine, Toronto, Canada. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004;10(7):1206-1212.Google Scholar
16.Nicholas, D, Patershuka, C, Koller, D, Bruce-Barrett, C, Lache, L, Zlotnik Shaulf, R, Matlow, A. Pandemic planning in pediatric care: A website policy review and national survey data. Healthcare Policy. 2010;96(2):34-142.Google Scholar
17.Writing Committee of the WHO Consultation on Clinical Aspects of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Influenza; Bautista, E, Chotpitayasunondh, T, etal. Clinical aspects of pandemic 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus infection. N Engl J Med. 2010;362(18):1708-1719.Google Scholar
18.Safran, MA. Achieving recognition that mental health is part of the mission of CDC. Psychiatr Serv. 2009;60(11):1532-1534.Google Scholar
19.Ehrmann, S, Etter Zúñiga, R. The FlashlightTM Evaluation Handbook. Washington, DC: The TLT Group; 1997: 357-361.Google Scholar
20.Pynoos, R, Rodriguez, N, Steinberg, A, Stuber, M, Frederick, C. UCLA PTSD Index for DSM IV (Child Version). Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Trauma Psychiatry Services; revision 1, 1998; 2001.Google Scholar
21.Weathers, F, Huska, J, Keane, T. PTSD Checklist (PCL). Washington, DC: National Center for PTSD, US Department of Veterans Affairs; 1991, revised 1994.Google Scholar
22.Kilpatrick, DG, Saunders, BE, Smith, DW. Research in Brief: Youth Victimization: Prevalence and Implications. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice; 2002.Google Scholar
23.Giaconia, RM, Reinherz, HZ, Silverman, AB, Pakiz, B, Frost, AK, Cohen, E. Traumas and posttraumatic stress disorder in a community population of older adolescents. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1995;34(5):599-611.Google Scholar
24.Gabbay, V, Oatis, MD, Silva, RR, Hirsch, G. Epidemiological aspects of PTSD in children and adolescents. In: Silva RR (ed). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Children and Adolescents: Handbook. New York, NY: Norton; 2004:1-17.Google Scholar
25.Sprang, G, Clark, J, LaJoie, A, Leigh, P, Silman, M, Jackson, C. Best Practice Guidelines for Pandemic Disaster Response: Response from the Field (Part 2). Somerset, KY: National Institute for Hometown Security; 2001.Google Scholar
26.Barbosa, J, Tannock, R, Manassis, K. Measuring anxiety: parent-child reporting differences in clinical samples. Depress Anxiety. 2002;15(2):61-65.Google Scholar
27.Mubayi, A, Zaleta, C, Martcheva, M, Castillo-Chavez, C. A cost-based comparison of quarantine strategies for new emerging diseases. Math Biosci Eng. 2010;7(3):687-717.Google ScholarPubMed