The study is a contextual analysis of flood victimization. Victimization is defined as the social, psychological, and physiological aftermath experienced by victims of a disaster. Disaster researchers concentrate on the victims' characteristics to explain the varying degrees of their victimization, providing only ambiguous results. Theorists such as Kreps, Wildavsky, and Douglas contend that the outcomes of disasters are contingent upon social structure. This analysis treats victimization as one such outcome. The condition and behavior of individuals can be explained by the presence of disaster and the conditions of social organization. A model explains victimization based on individual's attributes (individual resources), his social environment, and the disaster characteristics. This study uses the 1984 Mingo Creek Flood Victims Survey data to test the model. The data contain information measuring victimization. The survey data are linked with 1980 Census tract data. The tract data provide indicators of the social networks. This tract information, the contextual variables, taps the social conditions, including poverty, unemployment, geographic mobility, and family patterns. This study uses factor analysis to identify the dimensions of victimization. Regression tests the relationship between the contextual variables, the individual resource variables, the disaster characteristic variables, and victimization. The results of the analysis show that victimization is multidimensional with different types of variables being significant predictors for each dimension of victimization, one variable indicating the intensity of the disaster, the dollar value of damage victims experienced, is found to be a significant predictor of the psychological, physiological, and social disruption aspects of victimization. Variables measuring the family and unemployment patterns in the victims' census tract are significant predictors of the psychological and social disruption aspect of victimization. The findings provide general support for the proposed model of victimization. However, victimization is multidimensional with each dimension having a unique set of predictors. Based on the findings, this study suggests that future research focus on measurement and conceptualization of the characteristics of disasters and the victims' social environment.

Currently some confusion exists as to how health professionals should best respond to the psychological needs of those affected by disasters. Some have argued that early psychological intervention is essential and others have argued that early formal psychological interventions have no useful role in post trauma response. This study highlights the importance of considering both counselling and non-counselling factors as potentially influencing the psychosocial response of disaster victims. Although posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not the only mental disorder that can develop as a result of exposure to disasters, it is probably the most frequent and debilitating psychological disorder associated with traumatic stress. In this exploratorydescriptive study the researcher aimed to explore and describe psychologists’ perceived influences of early strategies on the psychosocial response to those affected by disaster. The researcher used non-probability snowball sampling to access participants. The sample consisted of 5 participants. Semi structured interviews were conducted. Content analysis was used to analyse the data obtained from interviews. Results that emerged from the data suggest that there are many factors that influence the psychosocial response to those affected by disasters. These factors include the screening process, needs of survivors, the method of choice for treatment, the timing of intervention, pharmacology, the South African context, training and planning. The study makes a contribution to the growing knowledge of early strategies in response to those affected by disasters.

Disasters occur within the routines of everyday life and have a disruptive and destructive impact on human lives. To understand how older individuals make sense of a disaster, nine older adults in Kaitaia, New Zealand were interviewed about their experience of a flood they experienced in July 2007. These interviews were conducted with four residents living in a rest home and five pensioners living independently who were evacuated from their homes. The two groups differed in the levels of support and assistance received before, during, and after the disaster. The rest home residents experienced little disruption and did not require relocation; the pensioners experienced major disruption and relocation. Thematic analysis was used to describe how these older adults’ accounted for their experiences of the flood. The narratives were influenced by the participants’ identity as either dependent rest home residents or pensioners living independently in the community. The analysis revealed that their accounts of the disaster were incorporated and integrated into the personal and social context of each person’s life story. Narrative themes that emerged from the analysis for the pensioner group were: coping with limited assistance, the importance of treasured possessions, and social support and community. The pensioner themes reflected their vulnerability to a disaster and the challenges they faced during the post disaster recovery phase. Themes for the rest home residents were ageing and dependency, and the importance of protection, care, and trust. These themes reflected the dependent world of the rest home residents and the security of being cared for.

The purpose of this study was to examine what, if any, symptoms of a traumatic stress reaction were still being experienced by police officers, as a result of the events of September 11, 2001, who were geographically distant from the events of that day. Participants included 60 police officers at two southern California law enforcement agencies.