title: Developing a bioterrorism preparedness campaign for veterans: Using focus groups to inform materials development.
abstract: In the context of a global war on terrorism experts have focused on the potential for a bioterrorist incident to cause widespread health and psychological consequences. Preparation is critical to improving the U.S. response to future bioterrorist incidents and educating the public is recognized as a vital part of this preparedness effort. Under a grant from the U.S. Veterans Health Administration (VHA), researchers from a network of VA health care and research facilities initiated a program to develop and evaluate educational materials for veterans--including those with mental illness. This article describes the results of a series of focus groups with three veteran subpopulations of interest to characterize their concerns and information needs and summarizes the insights gained that helped guide materials development.
authors.affiliation: War Related Illness and Injury Study Center in the VA-New Jersey Health Care System in East Orange, New Jersey, USA. ssantos.focusgroup@comcast.net
authors.forename: Susan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Drew A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Helmer
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fotiades
authors.forename: Liesel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Copeland
authors.forename: Jeffrey D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Simon
mesh_terms: D023482:Bioterrorism / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000379:methods*; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010934:Planning Techniques; D014481:United States; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*