NIH Funds New National Center for Disaster Mental Health Research

How does being involved in a disaster affect someone? While many people have made educated guesses, no one has actually studied the true impact that surviving a disaster reeks on the survivor. In a recent press release, the National Institutes of Health has provided a $3.89 million grant to establish the National Center for Disaster Mental Health Research. These funds will be used specifically to study mental and emotional health after surviving a disaster.

The National Center for Disaster Mental Health Research is a consortium of different universities. Each brings their own specialties and expertise to studying the mental and emotional impact that disasters inflict on their survivors.

There have been many disasters in the recent past. A few of the recent disasters that have affected Americans include September 11th, Hurricanes Hugo, Andrew, and Katrina, and most recently the rash of fires in the San Diego, California region.

These disasters strike quickly, usually without warning, without adequate time to prepare. While many researchers have wanted to study the effects of disasters like these on American's, few researchers have had the financial means to be dispatched to the site where an emergency is occurring at the drop of a hat.

This funding, provided by the National Institutes of Health, is designed to address that very problem. Teams of researchers can be assembled and dispatched to the affected area within hours of a disaster. Additionally, by working in collaboration with other universities, each university will offer its specialty, its area of expertise to tackle this research.

Once they arrive at their destination, researchers will engage people who are directly affected by the disaster they've been dispatched to. They plan to recruit between 1,500 to 1,800 healthy adults to participate in the research study.

Various forms of research will be conducted using these adults. They will participate in interviews, provide biological specimens, have behavioral assessments done, and participate in 2 waves of interventions.