Improving disaster mental health care in schools: a community-partnered approach.
BACKGROUND
Although schools are often the first institutions to provide recovery efforts for children post-disaster, few studies have involved the school community in research to improve the delivery of these mental health services on campuses. This community-partnered study explores post-disaster counseling services 10 months following Hurricane Katrina.


METHODS
In July 2006, nine focus groups, consisting of 39 school-based mental health counselors and six program administrators (10 men, 35 women), were conducted following a 2-day clinical training regarding a youth trauma intervention following Hurricane Katrina. Participants discussed the types of services they had been providing prior to the training and potential barriers to delivering services.


RESULTS
Participants identified high mental health needs of students and described populations that did not seem to be adequately supported by current funding sources, including those with pre-existing traumatic experiences and mental health issues, indirect psychological and social consequences of the storms, and those students relocated to communities that were not as affected. Participants also described the need for a centralized information system.


CONCLUSIONS
Participants described the need for greater organizational structure that supports school counselors and provides system-level support for services. Implications for next steps of this community-partnered approach are described.
Kataoka
Sheryl H
SH
Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, UCLA Health Services Research Center, University of California-Los Angeles, 10920 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles CA 90024-6523, USA. skataoka@ucla.edu
Nadeem
Erum
E
Wong
Marleen
M
Langley
Audra K
AK
Jaycox
Lisa H
LH
Stein
Bradley D
BD
Young
Phillip
P
D002648:Child; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research / Q000379:methods*; D055867:Cyclonic Storms; D004190:Disasters; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States