The importance of behavioral health after disaster must not overlooked when responding to an event. After disaster, victims experience various difficulties, which responders must keep in mind. They may frighten and confused to cooperate properly with assistance. Persistent distorted blame of self or others for the cause and result of the event is common while different degrees. Behavioral health, which major role is to relieve peoples suffering, also could help cooperation of rescues and accelerate fast recovery after the trauma. Distress of disaster victim could be presented with somatic complaints. Sudden increase of nonspecific physical complaint could be result of somatization of mental stress, which is often observed in disaster victims. After 'Sewol ship sunk' there were lots of need for behavioral health. We now know that how disastrous it could be and how desperate it would be while considering issues of peoples in need for psychological support after disaster. Not to end up in this hopeless situation, it is time to think about how to establish persistent framework to help disaster victims hidden overwhelming sufferings.
Disaster Victims ; Disasters* ; Ships

BACKGROUND: Typhoon Haiyan made landfall over the Visayas Region in 2013, affecting 15 million people. At least 4 million people were displaced, including hundreds of University of the Philippines students and teachers who had to deal with the consequences of such displacement not only on their personal lives but also on their academic lives.

OBJECTIVE: This study explored the experiences and needs of students and teachers of the University of the Philippines Visayas Tacloban College (UP VTC), University of the Philippines Manila School of Health Sciences (UPM SHS), and University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) who were either directly affected by Typhoon Haiyan or served as responders to the typhoon survivors. The study specifically looked at experiences of displacement in an academic setting, from the perspective of those who were academically displaced and those who hosted them.

METHODS: A qualitative descriptive study was designed involving a total of 17 student and teacher survivors and responders (ten survivors or survivor-responders and seven responders), who were purposively sampled and participated in an online open-ended questionnaire that elicited narrative experiences post-Typhoon Haiyan. Archived group process notes during the Haiyan response were also included as data. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to identify salient themes among and within groups.

RESULTS: Salient themes of student and teacher survivors, survivor-responders, (i.e. survivors who also had the additional role of being responders for others), and responders that emerged included: (1) provision of basic needs (food, water, safety) including academic resources, (2) lack of deliberate psychosocial processing of the disaster experience for both survivor and responder, (3) unequal access to help, (4) communication and organizational problems, and (5) victimhood.

CONCLUSION: Student and teacher survivors and survivor-responders cited needs that go beyond basic survival needs that require a more contextual approach. Given the university context of student and teacher survivors, survivor-responders, and responders, recommendations included the need for (1) efficient dissemination of existing postdisaster school policies and programs to increase access to address communication and organizational issues, (2) equal access to school-based basic, financial, educational, and psychological support and services, and (3) proper sensitivity training for host students, teachers, and staff to decrease experiences of victimhood and discrimination.

The effects of disasters have recently become an important worldwide health issue. In Korea, there have been many disaster events since 2000. Recently, there was a consensus to develop a scientific research framework for disaster. According to this consensus, disaster is defined as an event associated with more than 10 deaths or more than 50 injured individuals. Besides the mortality rate of the event, the early or late mortality rate can also be used to analyze the effect of disasters. According to international and domestic databases, technical disasters have increased and become potentially deadly. Common natural causes of disaster are storms and floods and common human-made causes are fire and transportation accidents. Most disaster studies are retrospective and observational. The mortality rate of disasters ranges from 0% to 77.7%. To analyze the effect of disaster on health and to establish appropriate health policies, epidemiological research into disaster is essential.
Consensus ; Disaster Medicine ; Disaster Victims ; Disasters* ; Epidemiology* ; Fires ; Floods ; Health Policy ; Korea ; Mortality ; Retrospective Studies ; Transportation

The definition of a disaster varies across research institutions, although it is generally regarded as a sudden event that demands more resources than the community can offer. Disaster medicine originates from military medicine. It is a new field of medicine that has much in common with emergency medicine, but focuses more on disaster management, targeting populations. It plays a key role both in the pre-event period by helping with disaster preparedness and in the event of a disaster by providing disaster medical services, including on-scene emergency life-saving interventions, thereby contributing to a decrease in the preventable mortality rate. Triage is a system used to sort mass disaster victims according to severity, enabling resources to be allocated, distributed, and utilized more efficiently. During disasters, a hospital should respond to the surge in patients in accordance with the standards and principles of disaster medicine by activating its emergency operation plan, converting the usual medical system into the emergency system, and putting disaster response teams into operation. Disaster medicine is the key discipline for all aspects of preparedness and response to conventional disasters, and even to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive events.
Disaster Medicine ; Disaster Victims ; Disasters ; Emergencies ; Emergency Medicine ; Humans ; Military Medicine ; Mortality ; Triage

OBJECTIVES: Disasters exert substantial effects on the mental health of victims and bereaved populations. Thus, a systematic framework for preparing and providing psychosocial and mental health services is necessary. The current attitudes toward and knowledge of disaster mental health-related factors among the general population provides one component for development of the disaster mental health services framework. METHODS: The authors analyzed a web-based survey for disaster mental health-related factors among the general population. Responses for the knowledge and perception for the disaster mental health services were compared between people who experienced and did not experience disaster. RESULTS: One thousand and three people completed the questionnaire. One hundred and seventy (16.9%) people experienced more than one disaster. People who experienced a disaster were more disturbed by disaster broadcasting or reporting than people who had not. People who experienced a disaster gave disaster mental health services an average score 63.5. People who experienced a disaster perceived group psychotherapy and self-help meetings as less important than those who had not. The recognition of both community mental health center and disaster mental health center was higher in the experienced group than non-experienced. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that general satisfaction with the current disaster mental health service is low, particularly among people who have used disaster mental health services. A national mental health system for disaster victims should be established with consideration for efficiency, effectiveness and accessibility.
Disaster Victims ; Disasters* ; Health Policy ; Mental Health Services* ; Mental Health* ; Psychotherapy, Group ; Public Health

PURPOSE: The goals of this research are to find out factors influencing the duration of work-related disability and to present implications for policies to prevent delayed recovery. METHOD: The subjects of this study were 238 workers who had been proved to be industrial disaster victims for occupational low back pain between January 1 2000 and December 31 2003. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the proportion of duration of disability associated with low back pain, and Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to identify factors predicting it. The model distinguished main symptom variables affecting acute(< or =90 days) and chronic phase of disability (>90 days). RESULT: Fifty percent of the workers had not recovered in 408 days. The results of Cox regression show that delayed duration of disability was predicted by diagnosis, pain radiation (in chronic phase), sex, the size and labor union of the workplace, scheduled rest, compensation from the company, and operation. CONCLUSION: Duration of disability associated with compensated low back pain is influenced not only by factors related to the company and compensation system but also by individual factors. Thus, future efforts to reduce duration of disability may need to take into account all these factors.
Compensation and Redress ; Diagnosis ; Disaster Victims ; Labor Unions ; Low Back Pain* ; Survival Analysis*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the factors influencing personal disaster preparation and disaster nursing core competency among visiting nurses in public health centers. METHODS: A descriptive survey study was adopted. A convenience sample was taken from 277 subjects in three regions. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, correlation, Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression. RESULTS: The mean personal disaster preparation and disaster nursing core competency scores were 11.13 and 76.87, respectively. Personal disaster preparation was statistically significant by experience of disaster victims and disaster management guideline. Disaster nursing core competency was statistically significant by participation in future disaster recovery. As a result of multiple regression analysis, personal disaster preparation accounted for 14.9 of the variance by experience of disaster victims and disaster management guidelines; disaster nursing core competency accounted for 8.9 of the variance by perception of disaster nursing. CONCLUSION: Although visiting nurses are ill-prepared for disaster, global natural and man-made disasters can occur regardless of time and place. Disaster education and training should therefore be included in nurses' fundamental education.
Disaster Victims ; Disasters* ; Education ; Humans ; Nurses, Community Health* ; Nursing ; Public Health*

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the key components of Korean disaster psychiatric assistant teams (K-DPATs), to set up new mental health service providing system for the disaster victims. METHODS: We conducted an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) involving disaster mental health experts, using a pairwise comparison questionnaire to compare the relative importance of the key components of the Korean disaster mental health response system. In total, 41 experts completed the first online survey; of these, 36 completed the second survey. Ten experts participated in panel meetings and discussed the results of the survey and AHP process. RESULTS: It was agreed that K-DPATs should be independent of the existing mental health system (70.1%), funding for K-DPATs should be provided by the Ministry of Public Safety, and the system should be managed by the Ministry of Health (65.8%). Experts shared the view that K-DPAT leaders would be suitable key decision makers for all types of disaster, with the exception of those involving infectious diseases. CONCLUSION: K-DPAT, a new model for disaster mental health response systems could improve the insufficiency of the current system, address problems such as fragmentation, and fulfill disaster victims’ unmet need for early professional intervention.
Communicable Diseases ; Decision Making* ; Disaster Victims ; Disasters* ; Financial Management ; Mental Health ; Mental Health Services

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to assess socio-demographic, disaster-related, physical health-related, psychological, and social factors that may adversely affect disaster victims' QoL (Quality of Life). METHODS: A cross sectional study was designed by using the secondary data. From the 3rd Disaster Victims Panel Survey (2012~2017), a total of 1,659 data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, t-test, ANOVA, and multivariate linear regression. RESULTS: Older people with lower health status lacking financial resources prior to a disaster were more at risk of low levels of QoL. Lower levels of perceived health status, resilience, and QoL were reported by disaster exposed individuals, while their depression was higher than the depression in the control group of disaster unexposed ones. Resilience, social and material supports were positively associated with QoL whereas depression and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders) were negatively associated. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that psychological symptoms and loss due to disasters can have adverse impacts on the QoL of disaster victims in accordance with their prior socio-demographic background. They also indicate that targeted post-disaster community nursing intervention should be considered a means of increased social support as well as physical and mental health care for disaster victims.
Depression ; Disaster Victims ; Disasters ; Linear Models ; Mental Health ; Nursing ; Quality of Life ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic

Disasters have frequently been a problem in Korea. Many initiatives have been carried out to mitigate this problem and to respond to disasters properly. The National Medical Emergency Center organized the Disaster Medical Response Center, which operates 24 hours a day. Regional emergency medical centers were designated as hospitals that receive disaster victims. Along with the designated disaster hospitals, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, city and district governments, and community health centers were all assigned standard roles to carry out in case of disasters. Disaster medical assistance teams were developed to respond to disaster events in their regions. This system has enabled a more rapid and systematic response to disaster events, and has standardized disaster-related medical equipment and vehicles to ensure the proper treatment of disaster victims. Although many valuable systems have been developed to respond to disasters, practical training within each institution and community-wide team training are still lacking; therefore, the government needs to further develop and support such programs.
Community Health Centers ; Disaster Victims ; Disasters ; Emergencies ; Emergency Medical Services ; Korea ; Medical Assistance