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Early Child Disaster Mental Health Interventions: A Review of the Empirical Evidence

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Abstract

Background

The need to establish an evidence base for early child disaster interventions has been long recognized.

Objective

This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the empirical research on early disaster mental health interventions delivered to children within the first 3 months post event.

Methods

Characteristics and findings of the included studies were summarized in frequency tables. The long-term effect of the interventions was evaluated using the findings at follow-up assessments.

Results

Eleven empirical studies examining 16 interventions delivered to children within 3 months post disaster were identified for review. The studies included only four randomized controlled trials. The studies examined a range of intervention types (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy, narrative exposure, meditation relaxation, debriefing, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) and reported positive effects for various outcomes including posttraumatic stress disorder caseness and posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, anxiety, and functioning.

Conclusions

Reflecting the difficulty mounting services and conducting research in the early post-disaster phase, this descriptive analysis of the research on early child disaster mental health interventions revealed a dearth of studies but also the successful implementation of a number of interventions.

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Acknowledgements

This study was conducted by the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) Terrorism and Disaster Center which was funded in part by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) established by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect those of NCTSN, SAMHSA, or HHS; OUHSC; or the University of Tulsa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 920 Stanton L. Young Boulevard, Williams Pavillion, WP 3417, Oklahoma City, OK, 73126-0901, USA

    Betty Pfefferbaum, Pascal Nitiéma & Phebe Tucker

  2. Department of Psychology, Tulsa Institute of Trauma, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, USA

    Elana Newman

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  1. Betty Pfefferbaum
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  2. Pascal Nitiéma
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Correspondence to Betty Pfefferbaum.

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Pfefferbaum, B., Nitiéma, P., Tucker, P. et al. Early Child Disaster Mental Health Interventions: A Review of the Empirical Evidence. Child Youth Care Forum 46, 621–642 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-017-9397-y

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