Abstract
Mental health interventions following disasters have been criticized as individualistic, incomplete, and culturally insensitive. This article showcases the effects of a culturally relevant and sustainable psychosocial capacity-building project at the epicenter of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake. Specifically, the project focuses on women, a group that has received limited attention in post-disaster recovery in China. This qualitative research study (N = 14) sheds light on the characteristics and processes of the implementation of a post-disaster psychosocial intervention project in rural China. In addition, by adopting the Success Case Method as an evaluation approach, this study elucidates its effects on the psychological and social changes of the disaster victims. The findings capture five aspects of psychosocial changes: enriched daily life, better mood, enhanced self-confidence, increased willingness to socialize, and the provision of mutual help. This study hopes to encourage more culturally relevant and empowering practices for women in building their psychosocial capacity after disasters.
Highlights
Disaster vulnerability is complex; it captures a combination of characteristics of the individual, group, or community, as well as the impact of social, economic, cultural, and political factors
A psychosocial capacity-building project that aimed at enhancing the psychosocial well-being of women survivors was set up in the epicenter, and this study reports on the development and insights of the effect of the project initiated in a rural Chinese village located at Yingxiu Town, the epicenter of the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake
This study adds to the extant literature on the role of psychosocial services in developing individual and community resilience after disasters. It has extensively described a psychosocial capacity-building project that aimed to improve the psychosocial well-being of women who were affected by the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake
Summary
Disaster vulnerability is complex; it captures a combination of characteristics of the individual, group, or community, as well as the impact of social, economic, cultural, and political factors. The earthquake deprived 1.15 million rural people in Sichuan Province of their livelihood, as the tremors wreaked havoc on their leased farmland and forests (Rao et al 2011). These factors impacted residents in devastated areas adversely in terms of health, property, housing, employment, and their living environment.
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