The Generic Intervention Approach and Principles

Abstract

School-based response to a disaster is generic in nature. The generic approach focuses on the characteristic course of the particular crisis, rather than on the unique response and the unique needs of each individual in crisis. The generic approach purports that an individual-focused approach - emphasizing individuals' unique, diverse intrapsychic and interpersonal processes and needs - can always be initiated later on if necessary, based on a careful screening and referral process. Yet, the generic approach first recognizes certain common response patterns to mass disaster, that is, normal reactions to abnormal circumstances. According to this approach, an intervention should therefore first be directed toward an adaptive resolution of the crisis. This is not to say that psychological problems associated with maladaptive coping will not evolve, but rather that the intervention must first ensure that people's adaptive coping is activated. Moreover, individual-focused intervention in the early phase of the disaster may be premature or undesirable because it can amplify a problem that may disappear spontaneously or through generic intervention, and thus lead to unnecessary psychological labeling and stigma. Thus, large-scale school-based intervention measures employed immediately after a disaster should be designed to be effective for all members of a given group, rather than to focus on the unique attributes of each individual (Aguilera & Messic, 1978). The individual-focused approach is used subsequently if individuals fail to respond to generic measures, and thus complements the generic intervention.