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1. lkjj Child and Family Resilience to Disasters Kevin Ronan

2. Outline Child and family vulnerability in disasters Response & Recovery Prevention & Preparedness Getting involved

3. Child & Family Vulnerability Children are a vulnerable group • After disasters • Including more benign events • Mount Ruapehu eruption 1995 • Before disasters • Disasters as major fear in childhood

4. Response & Recovery • Reactions & Risk following hazardous events • For majority, expect normal recovery • Children a vulnerable group • Prominent risk factors for children • Helping: Education and intervention • Early to later forms of support: Stepped Care • Increasing child and family self-sufficiency • Reducing risk factors • Increasing protective factors

5. Child & Family: Important Protective Factors • Reduced arousal & sense of comfort • Soothing, simple emotion regulation • Basic needs • (Regaining a) sense of control or mastery • Approach coping • Support: family, school, peer, other • Optimism/hope • Promoting a future temporal orientation • While still dealing directly with events

6. Response & Recovery Interventions A continuum from self-help to more intensive forms of support should be provided within a clear referral and assessment framework that is coordinated through inter-agency cooperation. Stepped Care

7. Response & Recovery Interventions: Different Modalities in a Stepped Care Model • Early intervention (Level 1) • Psychological First Aid • Self-help & education • Later steps (Level 2 & 3) • School & group interventions • More intensive child & family interventions

8. Early Interventions for Children • The message for children in early intervention • Keep it simple & consistent • Educate, normalise & promote natural recovery • Promote protective factors • Including simple coping messages aimed at re-gaining a sense of control • Emphasise support availability

9. Additional Issues for Parents & Other Adults Children need to feel looked after Children need predictability, consistency, sense of safety Children look to adults for support and as coping models -parents as particularly crucial

10. Additional Messages for Families & Schools • The importance of: • Creating safe, consistent, predictable environments for kids • Modeling & helping children attend to basics (routines, eating, sleeping, activities) • Modeling & providing support, warmth • Modeling & promoting patience and sense of control

11. Main Messages for Adults • Promote & model active coping within supportive school & home environments • “This was a terrible thing that happened, but we as a ....(family, school) are going to deal with this... and we are also going to make sure you are looked after as we do” • Emphasise to adults their role in child coping • “As we as adults go, so too our children” • Thus, school intervention with kids needs accompanying messages for adults

12. More Intensive Interventions: Screening & Intervention For more intensive school/group and child or family interventions, children and families at high-risk can be identified and offered follow-up services provided by trained and approved community- or school-level providers 1. School/Group: Our Mount Ruapehu Research: 7 Month Study 2. Child/family: Our CBT & TF- CBT interventions

13. Back to the Beginning: Prevention as the Best Form of Cure Our research focus also emphasises helping children, families, schools and communities become more resilient prior to a disaster - since 1996

14. Community Preparedness: Overall Findings • Low levels of community preparedness • Though most believe prep a good idea • Including in high hazard areas • How do we increase readiness to prepare? • Readiness to change starts with motivation

15. Increasing motivation to prepare: Why kids? • Children are a motivational reservoir in a community • 50 – 60% of home settings have a school aged young person • Having a child in a household • Increases adults’ intention to prepare

16. Why kids? • Children & families are a high risk group following disasters • Disasters are also a major fear of children • Children are adults of the future

17. Increasing motivation: Summary • Having kids in a household increases adults’ intention to prepare • In CQ, around the world • But, equally having kids doesn’t guarantee increased prep • CQ survey findings • One issue then is one of turning beliefs & good intentions to action • Through education programs

18. Hazards education programs • Teaching kids about hazardous events and risk mitigation • Range from simple reading and discussion programs • To emergency management-focused • To different aspects of curricula • Science • Geography • SOSE

19. Hazards education programs: Do they work? • Overall findings • Research in NZ • Research in Australia • Including in Canberra with 12-18 yr olds from disadvantaged backgrounds

20. Hazards education programs: Specific findings • Increases in awareness and knowledge • Increase in “hazards discussions” • Increases in emotional resilience • Increases in child & home preparedness for hazardous events • Increase in number of parent-reported home prep activities by over 6 per household

21. Education programs: Evidence supported elements • Emergency management focused programs better than reading and discussion only programs • Providing specific guidance is useful • But, even reading and discussion programs have been shown to produce significant benefits

22. Education programs: Evidence supported elements II • Multiple programs over time produce enhanced effectiveness • Be mindful also of a single program’s “half life” effect • Link the program to home • Simple, interactive homework • Emphasise family plan

23. How Can We as Psychologists Help • Get training • Be part of a coordinated effort linked to emergency management network in your community • Advocate for good practice principles • See our book & website

24. Practice, Research, Making Contact If you are doing research or practice in this area, make contact: We have resources available including measures, good practice principles & other resources k.ronan@cqu.edu.au www.hazardseducation.org

26. Psychological First Aid • Philosophy • Main Principles & Elements • Protection, Safety & Comfort • Stabilisation & Arousal Reduction • Information Gathering: Current Needs & Concerns • Assist Coping/Re-establishing Routines • Connection with Social & Emotional Support • Advocacy, Routing & Referral • No Research Findings as Yet • Trial in the US

27. Prevention & Preparedness • Rationale for primary prevention approach • Representative research in Central Queensland

28. Central Queensland Research (Ronan & Crellin, 2009) • Main findings • 90% of 1208 adult participants believed preparation useful • 92% believed preparation reduced hazard risks • Less than 50% reported a home emergency plan for any hazard • Likely an overestimate