May 2013

1. Welcome
2. Red Cross and APS
3. New disaster initiative for children affected by Tasmanian fires
4. Community resources following disasters
5. Recent Research:
   • People at heightened risk because community groups overlooked in disaster management - ACOSS Report, April 2013
   • Comparative Effectiveness of Interventions for Children Exposed to Nonrelational Traumatic Events.  (Forman-Hoffman et al., 2013)
   • Impact of the 2010–11 floods and the factors that inhibit and enable household adaptation strategies – NCCARF
6. Job opportunities
7. Featured in other newsletters
   • ACPMH Trauma News – April 2013
   • ACATLGN

Welcome

Dear [firstname,fallback=Sir/Madam],

This year got off to a busy start for many APS Disaster Response Network members volunteering to support the Red Cross in their multiple operations around the country.  Many of you responded to several calls for help from late December, for which we were very grateful.  Over 100 DRN volunteers worked either as independent debriefers phoning returned Red Cross workers to do wellbeing checks and see how they were going settling in back at home, or were deployed with the Red Cross to Bundaberg QLD to help with the recovery activities there.  Many more people volunteered for this role than were able to be deployed, and I thank you all for your generous offers of time and expertise.   In this newsletter you can read about the continuing work between APS and Red Cross, as well as learn about new disaster resources, initiatives, and research that have come out over the last few months. 

Dr Susie Burke
Public Interest, Environment and Disaster Response

Red Cross and APS

In addition to the short term support that APS volunteers provide to the Red Cross during and following an emergency, we are also working on some longer-term projects.  One of these is to train psychologists to run support groups for the Red Cross in disaster-affected communities.  On Wednesday 20 February 2013, we ran our first disaster support group workshop at the Red Cross. The workshop was lead by Dr Rob Gordon, Clinical Psychologist Consultant on emergency recovery for Red Cross, supported by Sharon des Landes and Salli Trathen, two experienced psychologists who ran support groups following the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires.

This workshop was designed for mental health professional with previous experience in running groups, as well as experience in disaster recovery or traumatic stress or grief. The primary focus of the workshop was to provide participants with a framework for specific features of the disaster experience and environment that forms the basis for understanding the role and function of support groups.

Twenty people attended this workshop, and several others expressed interest.  The video will shortly be available online.  If people are interested in seeing the video and doing this training, please contact me at drn@psychology.org.au. 

New disaster initiative for children affected by Tasmanian fires

The Child and Adolescent Bushfire Disaster Response is an adaptation of a successful program that assisted children after the 2011 Queensland floods. This program will be rolled out to Tasmania’s bushfire-affected communities to help children and their families who are experiencing ongoing emotional and mental health difficulties. 

Clinical psychologist A/Prof Vanessa Cobham, co-founder of the program, said the program proved very effective after the Queensland floods. At one badly affected primary school, around one third of the children experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “Several months later, after completing the trauma-focused cognitive behaviour therapy program, an evaluation found that the affected students had improved markedly to the stage where they were classified as having mild or no symptoms,” she said.

The program is delivered by beyondblue, supported by the Tasmanian Government, and uses Red Cross Appeal funds. The first community consultations have occurred in Dunalley and more will follow in other affected areas in coming weeks. Fact-sheets and links to online resources are distributed at the consultations, which also involve a question and answer session to help people know if they’re experiencing symptoms that may need treatment. The next phase is to offer training for school teachers and seminars for parents and caregivers to help improve confidence in identifying emotional and behavioural difficulties that may be part of a child’s post trauma response.

A beyondblue child response team, made up of professionals from the Kids in Mind unit at Brisbane’s Mater Children’s Hospital, then offers assessments of students in local primary and secondary schools after obtaining parental consent to identify those who are distressed. Some local counsellors will also be trained as part of this process to help with the response and ensure it leaves a lasting legacy. Parents are then told if their child is coping well or they’re offered appropriate treatment they can access for no cost.

Anyone from a bushfire affected area who wants more information should call program manager Kate Weller on 07 3163 2237.

Community resources following disasters

A good example of a community support network, called “The Go List” was set up in Emerald, Victoria as an online resource to provide support for people living in bushfire-prone communities (see www.thegolist.org.au for details).

A similar online tool has been developed in San Franciso to help community response groups to assist in emergency relief and recovery. For details go to the link below: http://www.buzzfeed.com/justinesharrock/san-francisco-is-building-a-social-network-for-emergencies-o

Recent Research:

People at heightened risk because community groups overlooked in disaster management: ACOSS Report, April 2013

The Australian Council of Social Service has released extensive new research showing the ability of communities to respond to natural disasters is being severely weakened by the exclusion of community based organisations from disaster management planning.
 
The research project, ‘Extreme Weather, Climate Change and the Community Sector – Risks and Adaptations’, is a world first review of the preparedness of community service organisations that provide critical social services and support to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in the community.  

“A major finding was that despite the crucial role locally based organisations play in supporting and rebuilding people’s lives during disasters like bushfires and floods - they are not included in official emergency response planning and are critically under-resourced to participate effectively,” said ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie.  For more information, go to http://acoss.org.au/images/uploads/ACOSS_submission_to_Senate_Inquiry_into_extreme_weather.pdf

Comparative Effectiveness of Interventions for Children Exposed to Nonrelational Traumatic Events.  (Forman-Hoffman et al., 2013)

This study assessed the effectiveness of interventions targeting traumatic stress among children exposed to nonrelational traumatic events (e.g., accidents, natural disasters, war).

METHODS: We assessed research on psychological and pharmacological therapy as part of an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality–commissioned comparative effectiveness review. We conducted focused searches of Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase, PsycINFO, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, and Web of Science. Two trained reviewers independently selected, extracted data from, and rated the risk of bias of relevant trials and systematic reviews. We used qualitative rather than quantitative analysis methods because of statistical heterogeneity, insufficient numbers of similar studies, and variation in outcome reporting.

RESULTS: We found a total of 21 trials and 1 cohort study of medium or low risk of bias from our review of 6647 unduplicated abstracts. We generally did not find studies that attempted to replicate findings of effective interventions. In the short term, no pharmacotherapy intervention demonstrated efficacy, and only a few psychological treatments (each with elements of cognitive behavioral therapy) showed benefit. The body of evidence provides little insight into how interventions to treat children exposed to trauma might influence healthy long-term development.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings serve as a call to action: Psychotherapeutic intervention may be beneficial relative to no treatment in children exposed to traumatic events. Definitive guidance, however, requires far more research on the comparative effectiveness of interventions targeting children exposed to nonrelational traumatic events.
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2013/02/05/peds.2012-3846.abstract

Impact of the 2010–11 floods and the factors that inhibit and enable household adaptation strategies

An NCCARF study looked at the impact of the 2010–11 floods and the factors that inhibit and enable household adaptation strategies.  The main objective of this research was to identify the factors that inhibit and enable adaptation strategies within flood affected communities. To achieve this, a mixed methods survey was carried out in three case study locations: Brisbane and Emerald, Queensland, and Donald, Victoria. In order to understand the broader story from a local perspective, they also investigated people’s experience of the flood in terms of response and recovery.

The main factors that were identified as either enabling or inhibiting response, recovery and / or adaptation are:

• Direct experience – many people stated that the history of flood events, the inconvenience and stress associated with being flooded and the pain and heartache that the floods caused were significant factors driving their desire to reduce their vulnerability.
• Outcome expectancy – some respondents revealed desired outcomes, such as the need to protect family members, belongings and assets and, a desire to have peace of mind, were positive drivers in changing their behaviour to reduce flood risk. In contrast, others could not comprehend how changes will prevent a disaster occurring from a natural event.
• Communication and information – the most widespread series of responses called for more communication and more information prior to and during the flood, which suggests that residents are more willing to adopt reactive strategies rather than proactive measures.
• Health and wellbeing - health impacts, both physical and mental, were identified, leading to problems in recovery. Interestingly, those respondents from Brisbane and Emerald who were mid-high household income earners ($100,000–$150,000) indicated more negative impacts in terms of wellbeing compared to those in the low and low-mid income brackets.

The dominant finding from the study was that a greater number of constraints inhibit adaptation than factors that enable adaptive change and behaviour. However, balanced against the criticisms and fault identification the study showed resilient communities getting on with their lives and largely driving recovery themselves.
http://www.nccarf.edu.au/sites/default/files/attached_files_publications/FinalReport(HighRes)-Bird-2010-11FloodHouseholdAdaptationStrategies.pdf

Job opportunities

Monash University is advertising a part-time research officer position on their Ear for Recovery project (on how parents support their children after a serious injury). The new Trauma Recovery Laboratory within Monash Injury Research Institute (MIRI) aims to understand and facilitate children's recovery from traumatic stress. In particular, we study how parents and emergency professionals can support children after a traumatic event, using a mix of research methods with an emphasis on quantitative, observational approaches.

The research officer will primarily work within a prospective cohort study of children who have been admitted to Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne after serious injury and their parents, involving the recording of real-world parent-child communication shortly after discharge and an assessment of children's psychological recovery 3 months later. You will work as part of a multidisciplinary, collegial and supportive team. You will have the opportunity to contribute to other projects and develop your own research interests. If you know potential candidates, would you mind sharing the link? http://bit.ly/ZwaTtQ

Featured in other newsletters

ACPMH Trauma News – April 2013

ACPMH have released their first ACPMH newsletter for 2013.  In this newsletter they include information on:

• Masterclass with Professor Edna Foa, 8 –11 August 2013
• Recent publications
• PTSD Coach Australia – a new app which comprises information about PTSD and its treatment, tools for symptom tools for symptom management, and a scheduler to help users manage their self-care, health appointments and other activities. PTSD Coach Australia is available for Apple and Android devices. To download the app visit the App Store, Google Play or the At-Ease website www.at-ease.dva.gov.au.

To read the newsletter, go to: www.acpmh.unimelb.edu.au/.../newsletters/ACPMH-TraumaNews_Mar2

Contact us

If you have feedback on DRN News, or useful information or suggestions that you would like us to include in DRN News, please contact us at drn@psychology.org.au.

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