Clinical needs assessment of middle and high school students following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
OBJECTIVE
This clinical assessment was designed to identify middle and high school students in need of formal evaluation for posttraumatic response symptoms following the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.


METHODS
A clinical needs assessment instrument was developed and administered to grade 6 through 12 students 7 weeks after the bombing (N = 3,218).


RESULTS
More than 40% of the students reported knowing someone injured, and more than one-third reported knowing someone killed in the blast. Posttraumatic stress symptoms at 7 weeks significantly correlated with gender, exposure through knowing someone injured or killed, and bomb-related television viewing.


CONCLUSIONS
This study documents the intensity of community exposure to the bombing and the lingering symptoms of stress. The assessment was used in planning for clinical service delivery, training professional responders, and supporting funding requests.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City 73190-3048, USA. betty-pfefferbaum@ouhsc.edu
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D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004522:Educational Status; D005006:Ethnicity; D005107:Explosions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009825:Oklahoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D012044:Regression Analysis; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013690:Television; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*