Coping and Post-traumatic Stress after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Racial Disparities in Social Work Student-Practitioners

Recent hurricanes have focused on lives and properties lost, however, additional mental health concerns may emerge in these post-disaster settings. Post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are particularly problematic for minorities due to pre-disaster disparities. Scholars must thus examine the antece...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of social service research 2018-08, Vol.44 (4), p.459-469
Main Authors: Prost, Stephanie Grace, Appel, Hoa B., Ai, Amy L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
College students
Community mental health services
Coping
Generalizability
Health disparities
Health problems
Hurricanes
Mental health services
Minority groups
natural disaster
Natural disasters
Occupational stress
Peers
Post traumatic stress disorder
post-traumatic stress
Prayer
Psychological trauma
Publicity
Quantitative psychology
Racial differences
Racial inequality
Sampling
Severity
Social services
Social work
Social work education
Social workers
Sociocultural factors
Stress
Symptoms
Trauma
Vulnerability
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Recent hurricanes have focused on lives and properties lost, however, additional mental health concerns may emerge in these post-disaster settings. Post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are particularly problematic for minorities due to pre-disaster disparities. Scholars must thus examine the antecedents of PTSS to support these and other vulnerable individuals and communities. This study examined racial disparities regarding active and avoidant coping, prayer, and subsequent relative contribution of each to PTSS following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita among social work student-practitioners. Using secondary data, results revealed that minority students (n = 233) used coping via prayer more often than their non-minority peers (n = 124; t = 7.18, p < .000; d = 0.76). Moderate, positive relationships emerged between avoidant coping and PTSS for both groups (r = .58-.63, p
ISSN:0148-8376
1540-7314
DOI:10.1080/01488376.2018.1476296