The postdisaster experiences of social work students have been the focus of a growing corpus of research in the past two decades; however, few investigations have been conducted in the context of catastrophic flooding events. The present study examined coping responses and mental health among 186 social work students in the aftermath of the Great…

Background: Post disaster psychosocial surveillance procedures are important for guiding effective and efficient recovery. The Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Katrina Inspired Disaster Screenings (KIDS) is a model designed with the goal of assisting recovering communities in understanding the needs of and targeting services…

In this amended excerpt from "Hope Against Hope", educational reform in post-Katrina New Orleans is considered from a journalistic perspective in presenting the story of Geraldlynn Stewart as she and her family navigate the new school system. In providing voices of lived experiences of Stewart as well as other individuals within this new…

September 11... Virginia Tech... Columbine... Hurricane Katrina... Traumatic events with long lasting consequences. Lives are upended, safety is threatened, and all are forced to find a way to adapt to a new normal. Educators in schools where students have experienced trauma face difficult challenges, for how are they to promote academic growth…

We examine the political and personal effects of disaster volunteerism with participants of the New Orleans Rebirth Movement (NORM) using four waves of pre- and postsurveys and qualitative analysis of participant journals. Significant increases are found in internal political efficacy, desire to be active in politics, and value placed on social…

Guided by an ecological perspective, the authors examined event, individual, structural/cultural, and family/community factors that shaped the psychological well-being of older adults displaced from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. The authors first established the negative effects of displacement on psychological well-being by comparing…

Large scale natural disasters pose serious risks to mental health and simultaneously wreak havoc on the very systems called upon to ameliorate those risks. School-based mental health services have been identified as a potential mechanism through which gaps in service delivery systems can be addressed in post-disaster environments. We believe that…

The following study examined the reactions of university students to Hurricane Katrina. A group of 68 New Orleans area students who were displaced from their home universities as a result of the hurricane were matched on race, gender, and age to a sample of 68 students who had been enrolled at Louisiana State University (LSU) prior to the…

Spike Lee's documentary, "When the Levees Broke," provides an informative, enduring, and alternative presentation surrounding the human and man-made debacle associated with Hurricane Katrina. Levees centers the voices of survivors and others involved in the weeks during and after the hurricane, historicizes residents' understandings and…

"Pre-Katrina" and "Post-Katrina" are common terms for time frames these days in New Orleans, often reminding me of the BCE/CE timeline distinctions. You hear "Pre-Katrina" and "Post-Katrina" on the news, in the paper, and in everyday conversations. Although more and more people have moved back to New…

This study tested the effects of a school-based test anxiety intervention among ethnic minority youth. The study used a prospective intervention design with a sample of (N = 94) ninth graders from New Orleans exposed to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Thirty youth with elevated test anxiety completed a primarily behavioral (e.g., relaxation…

Focus groups were conducted with 23 children and adolescents, aged 9 to 17 years, who relocated from Louisiana to Texas following Hurricane Katrina to explore their disaster, evacuation, and resettlement experiences. The resilience described by some was remarkable and, despite evidence of cultural disparity and stigma, many identified positive…

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita affected hundreds of thousands in southern Louisiana. To say that they touched people of every stripe and color dramatically is a gross understatement. Aside from the loss of life and property damage, families were uprooted, traditions disrupted, and one of the largest migrations in American history forced on a state…

Before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, 2005, one hundred and twenty one schools in the New Orleans Public Schools (NOPS) system were in the process of being transferred to the newly created, state run Recovery School District (RSD). On September 29, 2005, the New Orleans Parish School Board fired all 7500 employees, including every…

The purpose of this study was to examine the possible enhancement of compassion in college students as a result of participating in community-based learning immersion trips. In two separate experiments, a total of 123 college students were given a series of questionnaires immediately before and after university-sponsored immersion experiences to…