INITIAL FINDINGS DISCUSSED WILL CONCERN:

• Recollection of Evacuation preparations
• Post-evacuation stressful experiences
• Current practical problems and proposed solutions
• Rating the helper agencies and organizations
• Residential mobility plans
• Post-traumatic stress reactions
• Post-traumatic personal growth
• The long-term perspective

ALSO TO BE DISCUSSED: LARGER MENTAL HEALTH FINDINGS THAT WILL BE PUBLISHED IN AN ADVANCED ONLINE EDITION OF THE BULLETIN OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

STUDY ELEMENTS INCLUDE:

• Levels of mental illness
• Suicidal thoughts

Harvard Medical School, through a grant by the National Institute of Mental Health, recruited 1,043 survivors of Hurricane Katrina to create the Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group. The Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group is providing ongoing information to help monitor the pace of recovery of the more than two million families whose lives were disrupted by Hurricane Katrina.

This teleconference will be used to examine the first set of survey findings. The discussion will center on a baseline survey report issued to the National Institutes of Mental Health this week that covers several areas, including: participants' recollections of evacuation preparations, post-evacuation stressful experiences, current practical problems and proposed solutions, ratings of helper agencies and organizations, residential mobility plans, post-traumatic stress reactions, and post-traumatic personal growth.

The teleconference will also examine Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group mental health survey data to be published in an advanced online edition of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Members of the advisory group as well as study organizers will participate in the call.

SPEAKERS:

Ronald C. Kess
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Contact: John Lacey
public_affairs@hms.harvard.edu
617-432-0442
Harvard Medical School
23-Aug-2006