Methods for Disaster Mental Health Research

Fran H. Norris, PhD, a community/social psychologist, is a Research Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School, where she is affiliated with the National Center for PTSD and with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Response to Terrorism, headed by the University of Maryland. She has published extensively on the psychosocial consequences of disasters.Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a Research Affiliate of the Population Studies Center at the Institute for Social Research. His research focuses on the social and economic production of health, particularly mental health and behavior in urban settings, and he has an abiding interest in the social and health consequences of collectively experienced traumatic events.Matthew J. Friedman, MD, PhD, before retiring in 2022, was founder and Director of the National PTSD Brain Bank; Senior Advisor to the National Center for PTSD, where he served for 24 years as Executive Director; and Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at Dartmouth Medical School. He \ worked with patients with PTSD for over 50 years and has approximately 360 publications, including 29 books.Patricia J. Watson, PhD, is a Senior Educational Specialist for the National Center for PTSD. She collaborates with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and subject-matter experts to create publications for public and mental health interventions following large-scale terrorism, disaster, and pandemic flu.

"The editors have done a marvelous job of creating an instructive and well-written book that is a 'must read' for all who conduct disaster-related mental health research or who are involved in recovery planning and public health practice. For students, professionals, researchers, and policymakers, the book provides a solid foundation in research methods and includes wonderful explanations. I wholeheartedly recommend this book as a standard text for disaster research. It supplies the framework for good data collection, and good data are what support sound policy decisions."--CDR Dori B. Reissman, MD, MPH, U.S. Public Health Service and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention"This is an exceptional volume that is sure to become a classic, oft-referenced text in the field. Its great strength is the integration of ideas and methods, which too often are addressed in an either/or fashion. The book interweaves trauma and disaster theory, ethics, treatment, and policy, within the context of methodological approaches. It is masterfully done."--Stevan E. Hobfoll, PhD, Kent State University and Summa Health System"This unique and much-needed volume brings together concise, focused chapters by the world’s leading experts, covering all the major aspects of researching mental health after disasters. The editors have succeeded in summarizing years of accumulated wisdom and experience in a readable and easily accessible form. Disaster mental health research is complex and challenging. My recommendation is that nobody should attempt it without first reading this book."--Chris R. Brewin PhD, Department of Clinical, Educational, and Health Psychology (Emeritus), University College London, United Kingdom - A unique contribution to the disaster mental health literature....This book should be read by mental health professionals who seek clearly written, timely, and authoritative presentations on disaster research methodology. --Psychiatric Services, 8/5/2006ƒƒ The publication of this book, Methods for Disaster Mental Health Research, is a seminal event in the history of disaster mental health research. It answers the growing awareness of a need for agreed-upon scientific values and articulation of methodologies within the disaster mental health research community, oriented toward the creation of information that can guide the development of programs and policy. It is an immensely practical and readable volume, well organized and thought through. It is carefully designed to be user-friendly for those entering into disaster research for the first time, from the exhaustive review of different definitions of disaster in the first chapter to the appendices at the end of the book, providing a brief description of each disaster mentioned in the book....This is a wonderful, ambitious book...covers a multitude of intimidating material in a simple, organized fashion. It will serve not only those wishing to conduct disaster mental health research but also those who need to be able to use the results of the research to formulate policy. --PsycCRITIQUES, 8/5/2006ƒƒ This encyclopedic but easy to read volume offers a valuable and much needed resource to investigators attempting to meet the challenge of disaster research. It reviews key concepts in the field, and presents a framework for formulating research questions, and the most effective designs and methods for answering them, including approaches to sampling and data collection. As such it is an important move toward bringing order to a crucial area of contemporary research. --Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 8/5/2006

• I. Introduction to the Field1. Definitions and Concepts in Disaster Research, Alexander C. McFarlane and Fran H. Norris 2. Psychosocial Consequences of Disasters: A Review of Past Research, Fran H. Norris and Carrie L. Elrod II. Research Fundamentals3. Choosing Research Methods to Match Research Goals in Studies of Disaster or Terrorism, Carol S. North and Fran H. Norris 4. Formulating Questions about Postdisaster Mental Health, Charles C. Benight, Alexander C. McFarlane, and Fran H. Norris 5. Ethical Issues in Disaster Research, Alan R. Fleischman, Lauren Collogan, and Farris Tuma III. Methods for Sampling and Data Collection6. Basic Epidemiological Approaches to Disaster Research: Value of Face-to-Face Procedures, Evelyn J. Bromet and Johan M. Havenaar 7. Telephone-Based Research Methods in Disaster Research, Sandro Galea, Michael Bucuvalas, Heidi Resnick, John Boyle, David Vlahov, and Dean Kilpatrick8. Web-Based Methods in Disaster Research, William E. Schlenger and Roxane Cohen Silver 9. School-Based Studies of Children Following Disasters, Annette M. La Greca 10. Qualitative Approaches to Studying the Effects of Disasters, Lawrence A. Palinkas IV. Research for Planning, Policy, and Service Delivery11. Public Mental Health Surveillance and Monitoring, Sandro Galea and Fran H. Norris 12. Mental Health Services and Evaluation Research: Precepts, Pragmatics, and Politics, Craig S. Rosen and Helena E. Young 13. Evidence-Based Treatments for Traumatic Stress: An Overview of the Research with an Emphasis on Disaster Settings, Laura E. Gibson, Jessica L. Hamblen, Michael J. Zvolensky, and Anka A. Vujanovic 14. Strategies for Dissemination of Evidence-Based Treatments: Training Clinicians after Large-Scale Disasters, Randall D. Marshall, Lawrence Amsel, Yuval Neria, and Eun-Jung Suh V. Special Challenges in Disaster Research15. Conducting Research with Children and Adolescents after Disaster, Alan M. Steinberg, Melissa J. Brymer, Jesse R. Steinberg, and Betty Pfefferbaum 16. Conducting Research with Military and Uniformed Services Workers, Carol S. Fullerton, James E. McCarroll, and Robert J. Ursano 17. Conducting Research in Minority and Marginalized Communities, Russell T. Jones, James M. Hadder, Franklin Carvajal, Sara Chapman, and Apryl Alexander 18. Conducting Research in Other Countries, Arthur D. Murphy, Julia L. Perilla, and Eric Jones 19. Disaster Mental Health Research: Challenges for the Future, Matthew J. Friedman Appendix 1. Disasters Mentioned in the Text, Sandro Galea Appendix 2. Searching the Traumatic Stress Literature, Fred Lerner