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African Health Sciences
Makerere University Medical School
ISSN: 1680-6905 EISSN: 1729-0503
Vol. 8, Num. s1, 2008, pp. S36
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Untitled Document
African Health Sciences, Vol. 8, Suppl, 2008, pp. S36-36
What can emergency planners learn from research on
human resilience?
Richard Amlôt, Holly Carter
Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Health Protection Agency, UK, richard.amlot@hpa.org.uk and holly.carter@hpa.org.uk
Correspondence author: Richard Amlôt, Scientific Programme Leader - Behavioural Science, Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response, Health Protection Agency, Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire. SP4 0JG, UK Email: richard.amlot@hpa.org.uk
Code Number: hs08062
Resilience is a concept that is widely used in
emergency planning and preparedness activities
(e.g. www.ukresilience.gov.uk). Working definitions
of resilience in infrastructure, systems and
communities exist for the purposes establishing benchmarks
for effective emergency response, however it is not clear
to what extent these initiatives are informed by the
broad and well-established research literature on
human resilience. Efforts to define, measure and
promote physical and psychological resilience can be
identified in a number of diverse fields, including
developmental and clinical psychology, anthropology,
disaster management and the study of social-ecological systems.
Resilience is often defined in studies of positive
responses and coping in the face of challenging or traumatic
events, or in the ability of communities to survive and
thrive following disasters or emergencies. Recent
research points to the importance of considering resilience
in these terms, rather than simply as the absence of
trauma in the face of tragedy. 1, 2
Research on human resilience has the
potential to inform emergency planning in a number of
important ways. By identifying those most prepared to
withstand the impact of future events and by contrast those
most vulnerable, provision of limited resources or
capacity can be optimally designed for an effective and
flexible response. Additionally, community-based
interventions can be appropriately tailored to support restoration
and promote recovery activities. A parallel literature on
the provision for psychological support after
traumatic events supports the importance of appropriate
designing population-based
interventions3, advocating measured responses that include access to timely, practical
support and the promotion of existing social networks
as strategies to promote psychological resilience. 4, 5 Public engagement in emergency preparedness activities provides another avenue for identifying and
promoting resilience, both for emergency planners and
responders themselves, and in the communities engaged in
preparing for emergencies. 6, 7
Resilience research provides important
insights into the personal, social and environmental
conditions that can predict the presence or absence of resilience.
It is increasingly acknowledged that planning
assumptions concerning public responses to extreme events need
to be challenged, and that evidence-based approaches
are needed to inform preparedness activities.
Whilst emergency planners will continue to have to
prepare for the worst, efforts designed to identify the
correlates of resilience in the systems and communities they
serve can only inform and improve emergency
response initiatives.
References:
- Bonanno GA, Bucciarelli A and Vlahov D.
Psychological Resilience After Disaster: New York City in the
Aftermath of the September 11th Terrorist Attack. Psychological Science. 2006; 17: 181-186.
- Almedom AM and Glandon D. Resilience is not the
absence of PTSD any more than health is the absence of
disease. Journal of Loss and Trauma. 2007; 12: 127-143.
- Rose S, Bisson J, Churchill R and Wessely S.
Psychological debriefing for preventing post traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) (Review). The Cochrane
Library, Issue 4. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2006.
- Rubin GJ, Brewin CR, Greenberg N, Hacker Hughes
J, Simpson J and Wessely S. Enduring consequences
of terrorism: 7-month follow-up survey of reactions to
the bombings in London on 7 July 2005. British Journal
of Psychiatry. 2007; 190: 350-356.
- Amlôt R and Page L. Helping individuals, families
and communities cope in the aftermath of flooding. Chemical Hazards and Poisons Report. 2007; 34-36.
- Turner L and Amlôt R. Exercise Young Neptune: a
child's eye view of decontamination. Emergency Services
Times. 2007; 121.
- Page LA, Rubin GJ, Amlôt R, Simpson J and Wessely
S. How prepared are Londoners for an emergency? A longitudinal study following the London bombings. Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice,
and Science. (In Press).
© Copyright 2008 - Makerere Medical School, Uganda
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