Mental health outreach program following the earthquake in Armenia: utilizing the nursing process in developing and...

This article provides a description of the eight phases of the Mental Health Outreach Program (MHOP) cofounded by the author to address the needs of the surviving community following the 1988 earthquake in Armenia. For the purposes of the MHOP, the nursing process was expanded from five to eight phases: 1) preassessment, 2) assessment, 3) analysis, 4) community diagnosis, 5) planning, 6) implementation, 7) evaluation, and 8) remodification. A framework for assessing the level of trauma in an unfamiliar community (with its mnemonic acronym COPE), which was formulated by the author to expedite the assessment and implementation phases, is described. The article concludes with a set of recommendations for psychiatric mental health nurses in mitigating the negative impact and consequences of disasters.