Epacuee Case Study

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It is important to note that the definition of evacuee is “a person evacuated from a place of danger to somewhere safe. There is no stipulation as to whether you must be evacuated prior to or after the disaster in order to be considered an evacuee. There is a large portion of evacuees who lacked resources to leave New Orleans prior to the storm. Due to this, several people were not evacuated until days after the storm hit. This initiates not only displacement stressors, but also immediate stressors such as lack of fresh water, lack of power, and an inability to find suitable and stable lodging (Lowe, Chan & Rhodes, 2010). By the time of evacuation the mental health of the survivors rested in a very fragile state. An increase in substance use can likely be attributed to attempts of survivors to cope. What stared …show more content…
The post disaster environment, particularly access to supportive relationships for females can influence how they cope following natural disasters (Wagner, Brief, Vielhauer, Sussman, Keane & Malow, 2009). Children with high levels of social support typically fare better psychologically following disasters. If a parent is experiencing high levels of distress, they cannot effectively provide the necessary social support to their children. Parental reactions to post disaster situations influence the likelihood of a child developing PTSD (Lowe, Chan & Rhodes, 2010). After displacement female adolescents had a particularly hard time coping. These young girls suffered from low self-esteem, anxiety and depression. A particularly dangerous mechanism of coping amongst adolescents is substance use. Substance use proves to be particularly maladaptive for adolescents because this behavioral pattern can contribute to heightened psychosocial issues (Wagner, Brief, Vielhauer, Sussman, Keane & Malow, 2009). Not to mention, an onset of addiction early can easily lead to chronic health issues in

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