The Disaster Resiliency Training Project: A Community-Based Approach to Promoting Worker Health and Well-Being

Introduction.   Following disasters, response and clean up-workers are often found to present with higher rates of mental health illnesses and related symptoms than the general population.  Disasters often disrupt mental health support systems and routine employment.  Those involved in long–term recovery not only face stressors on the job, but also are often victims of the disaster themselves.  In an effort to better address these needs and mental health concerns, the NIEHS WTP, in partnership with Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, developed the Disaster Resiliency Training Project.  The project promotes resilience by training those involved in rescue, response, recovery and re-building in mental health and self-care. These trainings build coping skills and knowledge of mental health symptoms and available resources for workers and supervisors. 

Methods.  A systematic competency-based evaluation was developed for the NIEHS resiliency training to assess effectiveness for supervisors and clinicians.  The evaluation was designed to assess learning gains and relative effectiveness of instructional activities and training components, and to provide feedback for continuous quality improvement.  The evaluation process is an integrated programmatic assessment, which uses multiple methods in gathering qualitative and quantitative data from major program stakeholders to gain a more accurate and thorough depiction of program effectiveness.  Feedback meetings were held with practice partners to demonstrate short-term progress toward program goals and general recommendations were incorporated into subsequent trainings to ensure continuous improvement.

Results.  The courses use established adult learning techniques, including activities to engage participants in discussion and build long-term capacity for mental health and resilience.  Throughout the program development process, an evidence base was informed by subject matter experts, pilot testing results, evaluation results, and a comprehensive literature review. NIEHS involved communities and local grantee hosts in the design process, therefore ensuring that terminology, case studies, and examples were relevant and useful to the target audiences. With an emphasis on pre-disaster training, this program encourages prevention, early intervention and community empowerment, while conveying important mental health facts relevant after a disaster.

Conclusions.  The Disaster Resilience Training Project has been shown to effectively enhance mental health and resiliency of workers in disaster-impacted areas.  The relevance and usefulness of the training will be highlighted, and implications for existing mental health training and community resilience during disasters will be discussed.