Tailoring Disaster Mental Health Services to Diverse Needs: An Analysis of 36 Crisis Counseling Projects

• Published in: Health & social work 2010-08, Vol.35 (3), p.211-220
• Main Authors: Rosen, Craig S., Greene, Carolyn J., Young, Helena E., Norris, Fran H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Coding; Communities; Community Mental Health Services - economics; Community-Institutional Relations; Company business management; Counseling; Counseling Services; Counselling; Counselors; Crisis Intervention; Crisis Intervention - economics; Cross cultural counseling; Cross cultural counselling; Cultural Awareness; cultural competence; Cultural Competency; Delivery Systems; Demographic aspects; disaster; Disasters; Emergency management; Emergency preparedness; Ethnic Groups; Ethnicity; Grants; Health Expenditures; Health Services; Humans; Intervention; Management; Mental Health; Mental Health Programs; Mental Health Services; Mental Health Workers; Minority Groups; National Health Programs - economics; outreach strategies; Practice; Program Evaluation; Psychiatric services; racial/ethnic disparity; Records (Forms); Regression Analysis; Services; Social aspects; Social Work; Social workers; United States
• ISSN: 0360-7283; 1545-6854
• DOI: 10.1093/hsw/35.3.211

The federal Crisis Counseling Program (CCP) funds states' delivery of mental health services after disasters. These services are provided by social workers, other mental health professionals, and paraprofessionals from the local community. The present study examined whether CCP grant recipients that reported more tailoring of their interventions to the needs of diverse community segments achieved greater community penetration. The study reviewed archival records from 36 crisis counseling projects ending between 1996 and 2001. Numbers of clients and client ethnicity were determined through service logs. Tailoring of services was determined by content coding of projects' reports. Community demographics were determined from census data. Fifty-six percent of the projects reported using three or more tailoring strategies, suggesting a “precompetence” or greater stage of cultural competence. The proportion of members of racial or ethnic minority groups among program clients closely matched the proportion in grantees' communities. Projects that reported more types of tailored activities reached more clients and served more members of minority groups. These findings confirm that adapting crisis counseling services to diverse local needs is associated with greater community penetration of mental health services.