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A Brief Report of Surveillance of Traumatic Experiences and Exposures After the Earthquake-Tsunami in American Samoa, 2009

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 August 2013

Michael E. King ,
Merritt D. Schreiber ,
Stephen E. Formanski ,
Sinclair Fleming ,
Tesfaye M. Bayleyegn  and
Siitia S. Lemusu
Michael E. King*
Affiliation:
Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch, Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
Merritt D. Schreiber
Affiliation:
Center for Public Health and Disasters, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Center for the Health Sciences, Los Angeles, California
Stephen E. Formanski
Affiliation:
Region III Office of Preparedness and Emergency Operations, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, US Department of Health and Human Services, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sinclair Fleming
Affiliation:
Center for Public Health and Disasters, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Center for the Health Sciences, Los Angeles, California
Tesfaye M. Bayleyegn
Affiliation:
Health Studies Branch, Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
Siitia S. Lemusu
Affiliation:
American Samoa Department of Health, Pago Pago, American Samoa
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Michael E. King, MSW, PhD, Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch, Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway NE, MS F-58, Atlanta, GA 30341 (e-mail nzk7@cdc.gov).
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Abstract

Context

Rapid mental health surveillance during the acute phase of a disaster response can inform the allocation of limited clinical resources and provide essential household-level risk estimates for recovery planning.

Objective

To describe the use of the PsySTART Rapid Mental Health Triage and Incident Management System for individual-level clinical triage and traumatic exposure assessment in the aftermath of a large-scale disaster.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional, comparative review of mental health triage data collected with the PsySTART system from survivors of the September 2009 earthquake-tsunami in American Samoa. Data were obtained from two sources—secondary triage of patients and a standardized community assessment survey—and analyzed descriptively. The main outcome measures were survivor-reported traumatic experiences and exposures—called triage factors—associated with risk for developing severe distress and new mental health disorders following disasters.

Results

The most common triage factors reported by survivors referred for mental health services were “felt extreme panic/fear” (93%) and “felt direct threat to life” (93%). The most common factor reported by persons in tsunami-affected communities was “felt extreme panic or fear” (75%). Proportions of severe triage factors reported by persons living in the community were consistently lower than those reported by patients referred for mental health services.

Conclusions

The combination of evidence-based mental health triage and community assessment gave hospital-based providers, local public health officials, and federal response teams a strategy to match limited clinical resources with survivors at greatest risk. Also, it produced a common operating picture of acute and chronic mental health needs among disaster systems of care operating in American Samoa.(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2013;7:327-331)

Keywords

surveillancemental healthdisasters
Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , June 2013 , pp. 327 - 331
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2013 

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