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AJPH First Look, published online ahead of print Jan 15, 2009
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April 2009, Vol 99, No. 4 | American Journal of Public Health 654-658
© 2009 American Public Health Association
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2008.146571

RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Psychosocial Care for Women Survivors of the Tsunami Disaster in India

Susan M. Becker, PhD, MPH, MSW

At the time of the study, the author was with the College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Susan M. Becker, PhD, MPH, MSW, Department of Health and Human Services, HRSA, 5600 Fisher's Lane, Rockville, MD 20057 (e-mail: sbecker{at}hrsa.gov).

Objectives. I investigated the effectiveness of Psychosocial Care, a community-based mental health initiative for survivors of the 2004 tsunami disaster in India.

Methods. Mental health teams from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in India implemented a train-the-trainer model of psychosocial care in one of the worst tsunami-affected areas of south India. Three months of psychosocial care was provided for an intervention group of women, but not for a control group recruited from an exposed neighboring village. Impact of Event Scale (IES) scores—both total scores and scores for subscales on hypervigilance, avoidance, and intrusion—were compiled for both the intervention and control groups and used as outcome measures.

Results. For the intervention group, posttest total IES and subscale scores were significantly lower than pretest scores (P < .001), indicating improvement in symptoms. Posttest total IES and subscale scores were significantly lower for the intervention group than for the control group (P < .001).

Conclusions. Psychosocial care is an effective mental health strategy for women survivors of disasters and should be an integral component of disaster response in resource-poor countries.






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