Policy and administrative issues for large-scale clinical interventions following disasters

Large, programmatic mental health intervention programs for children and adolescents following disasters have become increasingly common; however, little has been written about the key goals and challenges involved.

Using available data and the authors' experiences, this article reviews the factors involved in planning and implementing large-scale treatment programs following disasters.

These issues include funding, administration, choice of clinical targets, workforce selection, choice of treatment modalities, training, outcome monitoring, and consumer uptake. Ten factors are suggested for choosing among treatment modalities: 1) reach (providing access to the greatest number), 2) retention of patients, 3) privacy, 4) parental involvement, 5) familiarity of the modality to clinicians, 6) intensity (intervention type matches symptom acuity and impairment of patient), 7) burden to the clinician (in terms of time, travel, and inconvenience), 8) cost, 9) technology needs, and 10) effect size. Traditionally, after every new disaster, local leaders who have never done so before have had to be recruited to design, administer, and implement programs.

As expertise in all of these areas represents a gap for most local professionals in disaster-affected areas, we propose that a central, nongovernmental agency with national or international scope be created that can consult flexibly with local leaders following disasters on both overarching and specific issues. We propose recommendations and point out areas in greatest need of innovation.