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eBook/Digital Version available from:
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Score: 95 |
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| An International Perspective on Disasters and Children's Mental Health |
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ISBN: 978-3030158712,
439 pages,
Hard Cover
ISBN-10: 3030158713 |
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| Copyright: |
2019 |
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| Edition: |
1st |
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| Editor: |
Hoven, Christina W., DrPH, MPH; Amsel, Lawrence V., MD, MPH; Tyano, Sam, MD |
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Specialties:
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Psychiatry
, Public Health |
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| Publisher: |
Springer |
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| Series Title: |
Integrating Psychiatry and Primary Care |
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| List Price: |
$139.99 |
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| Google: |
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At A Glance
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This book provides a broad international perspective on the psychological trauma faced by children and adolescents exposed to major disasters, and on the local public health response to their needs. An outstanding quality of the book is that it draws upon the experience of local researchers, clinicians, and public mental health practitioners who dedicated themselves to these children in the wake of overwhelming events. The chapters address exemplary responses to a wide variety of trauma types, including severe weather, war, industrial catastrophes, earthquakes, and terrorism. Because disasters do not recognize geographic, economic, or political boundaries, the chapters have been selected to reflect the diverse global community's attempt to respond to vulnerable children in the most challenging times. The book, thus, examines a diverse range of healthcare systems, cultural settings, mental health infrastructure, government policies, and the economic factors that have played an important role in responses to traumatic events. The ultimate goal of this book is to stimulate future international collaborations and interventions that will promote children's mental health in the face of disaster.
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Reviewer:
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Ellyn Cavanagh,
PhD, MN,BSN
(Tender Care Pediatric Services, Inc.)
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Range
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Question
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Score
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| 1-10 |
Are the author's objectives met? |
10 |
| 1-10 |
Rate the worthiness of those objectives. |
10 |
| 1-5 |
Is this written at an appropriate level? |
5 |
| 1-5 |
Is there significant duplication? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) |
4 |
| 1-5 |
Are there significant omissions? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) |
5 |
| 1-5 |
Rate the authority of the authors. |
5 |
| 1-5 |
Are there sufficient illustrations? |
5 |
| 1-5 |
Rate the pedagogic value of the illustrations. |
4 |
| 1-5 |
Rate the print quality of the illustrations. |
4 |
| 1-5 |
Are there sufficient references? |
5 |
| 1-5 |
Rate the currency of the references. |
5 |
| 1-5 |
Rate the pertinence of the references. |
5 |
| 1-5 |
Rate the helpfulness of the index. |
4 |
| 1-5 |
If important in this specialty, rate the physical appearance of the book |
N/A |
| 1-10 |
Is this a worthwhile contribution to the field? |
10 |
| 1-10 |
If this is a 2nd or later edition, is this new edition needed? |
N/A |
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Reviewer:
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Ellyn Cavanagh,
PhD, MN,BSN
(Tender Care Pediatric Services, Inc.)
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Description
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| Disasters are frightening, unexpected, and unfold as chaos. Half of the approximately 68.5 million persons displaced by disasters worldwide in 2018 were children, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This book considers the anatomy of natural and man-made or intentional disasters and their consequences for children's mental health. It uses case examples to present lessons about the successes, failures, and professional best practices in mitigating negative outcomes for children and youth. |
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Purpose
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| The ultimate goal is to mitigate the damage and prepare, manage, and recover populations from disaster situations. The common thread is that children are dependent on a primary caregiver, and separation exacerbates the emotional trauma. Children who suffer extreme loss, such as in the Armenian genocide, are at highest risk of intergenerational trauma. The objectives are worthy as disasters, such as earthquakes, terrorism, and school shootings, have increased worldwide. Children and youth are the most vulnerable, bearing the burden of injury and loss. |
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Audience
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| The book is written at a graduate student level, but also can be used to inform policy and should be mandatory for all professionals in international policy and emergency preparedness. The authors are all credible, providing first-hand accounts and giving examples of what worked, what mistakes were made, and possible outcomes. Research is difficult because of the unpredictable nature and the danger in disaster situations, such as with the plight of Syrian refugees. |
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Features
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| The best aspect of the book is its organization. The first chapter is an overview of public health and the impact of disaster on stress response of the fetus, infant, and child, with an emphasis on the negative impact of perinatal stress. Each subsequent chapter confronts a particular reality, such as terrorism, earthquakes, nuclear events, extreme weather, genocide, refugees. The community as a whole is impacted, but children are the most vulnerable from the perspective of physical, cognitive, and social domains. Each chapter details the loss experienced by children and subsequent mental health impairments, with PTSD as primary along with other comorbidities. The book notes that children are at a developmental disadvantage and suffer from PTSD, and are more likely to have problems with attachment, Komitas syndrome, and radicalization. Domains of child advocacy are presented in each chapter, but, given the unpredictable nature of disasters, research is largely restricted to retrospective studies. Efforts are made to aggregate data to illustrate what is possible to do given the unpredictable nature of a disaster. The case studies are helpful, such as the Boston marathon bombing, Hurricane Katrina, and the historical recounting of the 1915 Armenian genocide. Two man-made disasters, Chernobyl and Fukushima, resulted in overwhelming damage to children and youth: cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and vegetative. In the U.S., Hurricane Katrina impacted 47,000 children under the age of five, and PTSD was identified in 62.5% of preschoolers who stayed through the hurricane. The book also discusses how children and youth become radicalized, leading to a cyclical path of terrorism, such as with suicide bombings. Children human rights violations are discussed, such as abduction, recruitment as soldiers, killing and maiming, sexual violence, attacks against schools and hospitals, and denial of human access. (United Nations, 2013) |
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Assessment
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| This is an outstanding, well-written book, although difficult to read because of the subject of children being victimized, injured, and/or abandoned when forced into a refugee status without rights or protection of family. The authors clearly delineate the impact on children and youth. Invariably this population suffers the highest emotional, physical, economic, and social burden of any disaster. Each chapter provides examples of interventions that helped mitigate stress, protective factors in the community, and those that expose children and supportive caregiver relationships for healthy developmental trajectories. In situations with adverse outcomes, such as children caught up in the Syrian war or those seeking asylum in foreign countries, the authors describe the barriers to healthy psychological adaptation. The best chapter is the last, chapter 20, which is outstanding and provides two possible conceptual frameworks to take individual disaster experiences and use them in disaster research and policy, and ultimately in disaster management. |
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