Abstract
Abstract. Extreme events, such as natural or human-caused disasters, cause mental health stress in affected communities. While the severity of these outcomes varies based on socioeconomic standing, age group, and degree of exposure, disaster planners can mitigate potential stress-induced mental health outcomes by assessing the capacity and scalability of early, intermediate, and long-term treatment interventions by social workers and psychologists. However, local and state authorities are typically underfunded, understaffed, and have ongoing health and social service obligations that constrain mitigation and response activities. In this research, a resource assignment framework is developed as a coupled-state transition and linear optimization model that assists planners in optimally allocating constrained resources and satisfying mental health recovery priorities post-disaster. The resource assignment framework integrates the impact of a simulated disaster on mental health, mental health provider capacities, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) to identify vulnerable populations needing additional assistance post-disaster. In this study, we optimally distribute mental health clinicians to treat the affected population based upon rule sets that simulate decision-maker priorities, such as economic and social vulnerability criteria. Finally, the resource assignment framework maps the mental health recovery of the disaster-affected populations over time, providing agencies a means to prepare for and respond to future disasters given existing resource constraints. These capabilities hold the potential to support decision-makers in minimizing long-term mental health impacts of disasters on communities through improved preparation and response activities.
Highlights
Disaster response frameworks consist of four primary phases: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery, with the objective to improve disaster response capability prediction and optimal resource allocation in recovery (Zhou et al, 2018)
Interventions range from cognitive behavioral therapy to psychological first aid, intermediate interventions range from classroom-based intervention to specialized crisis counseling, and long-term interventions range from cognitive processing therapy to systematic desensitization (Hierholzer et al, 2015)
Preventative medicine manifests itself in terms of readiness in which training and equipping communities with mental health recovery tools prior to a disaster can improve the resilience of disaster-impacted individuals
Summary
Disaster response frameworks consist of four primary phases: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery, with the objective to improve disaster response capability prediction and optimal resource allocation in recovery (Zhou et al, 2018) These frameworks must consider longterm needs for social services (such as those that target the reduction of mental health disorders as a result of the disaster itself) and long-term exposure to devastation. Unlike physical needs, which are identifiable and acute in the aftermath of an event, the occurrence of post-event mental health disorders can take time to manifest and can only be treated when those affected seek help Almost all those affected by emergency situations, defined as war, natural disaster, or humanitarian crisis, experience some level of mental distress (World Health Organization, 2019).
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