Fichter, C. (2014).

Cassie Fichter

Intervening with Secondary Victims of Natural Disasters: Posttraumatic Stress, Growth, and Peer Support In Haitian-American Youth

Chair: Thomas Demaria, Ph.D.

Abstract

The lack of investigation into the psychological ramifications of indirect exposure to traumatic events on children poses a potential public health problem if preventive and early mental health interventions are not provided. Research suggests that indirect exposure to disasters may lead to vicarious traumatization and possibly to post-traumatic growth (PTG). For example, the 2010 earthquake in Haiti was found to have a significant psychological impact on Haitian Americans who were in Miami, Florida at time of the disaster. In the present study two groups of Haitian-American children whose families/friends were in Haiti during the 2010 earthquake were provided a classroom psychoeducational trauma- and grief-focused group intervention (Healing After Trauma Skills; HATS). The purpose of this study was: 1) to examine the psychological sequelae (post traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and PTG) of the 2010 earthquake on Haitian-American youth in the New York City area one year after the event, 2) to study the impact of social support as a mediator of PTSS and PTG in youth, and 3) to conduct a pilot evaluation of a classroom psychoeducational trauma- and grief-focused group intervention (HATS) on youth’s perception of social support and PTG. Although the proposed hypotheses regarding the impact of the earthquake on Haitian-American students one year after the disaster were not supported, the results provided preliminary support for the implementation of the HATS protocol intended for use with vicariously traumatized children. Although this study’s nonexperimental design prevents definitive conclusions regarding the efficacy of HATS, its implementation may have both reduced Haitian-American student’s symptoms related to post-traumatic stress and fostered social bonds and PTG. These findings point to future research opportunities when examining vicarious traumatization and PTG in children, and provide practice guidelines for future implementation and study of the HATS protocol.