Lecture 9 - Disaster and Child Trauma

Lecture 9 - Disaster, War, and Displacement

• Traumatic stressors related to child exposure to natural disasters include displacement, loss of home/property, disrupted schooling, economic hardship, and loss of loved ones.
• Fifty percent of children experience post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), which can include recurring thoughts, hypervigilance, and difficulty sleeping or concentrating.
• Long-term issues, like depression and anxiety, can persist for up to four years after a disaster.
• PTSD symptoms may decrease, but depression can worsen after events such as the 2008 China earthquake.
• Increased illnesses (such as diarrhea, fever, and respiratory problems) and vulnerabilities (thinner skin, fluid loss risks, and less heat retention) are common in children post disaster.
• Educational disruption, including prolonged school closures and absenteeism, can also impact children, potentially leading to difficulties concentrating.
• Key research (Challenger Study) highlights the impact of physical and emotional proximity on the severity of symptoms from the explosion during the Challenger space shuttle launch, which was televised.
• Younger children exhibited more symptoms than adolescents. Key findings indicate that media exposure (live TV) was impactful as witnessing in person and emotional proximity (connection to victims) mattered more than physical proximity.
• Emotional involvement and exposure level impact post-traumatic symptoms. Sub-threshold trauma symptoms are common, even with no full PTSD diagnosis.

Lecture 9B - War and Displacement

• Trauma exposure in children during war involves violence (witnessing, victimization, or perpetration), food shortages, disease, torture, sexual assault, medical neglect, and loss of loved ones.
• Sexual assault is a key war crime, used to dominate, instill fear, and displace populations.
• Child soldiers are actively involved in roles like combatants, cooks, spies, and sex slaves, with girls comprising 40% of child soldiers.
• Trauma in child soldiers includes risks such as rape, torture, substance abuse, PTSD, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
• 35% of child soldiers surveyed in Uganda and DRC met PTSD criteria.
• Post-war challenges include stigma, rejection by communities, and disrupted education, leading to severe psychiatric symptoms stemming from violent memories and fear.
• Refugee children and families face stressors such as displacement, loss of home/community, poverty, cultural dislocation, discrimination, and both pre- and post-migration trauma.
• Refugee children resettled in high-income countries show lower PTSD rates. Core stressors include acculturation (cultural conflicts), isolation, persistent emotional regulation problems, and environmental stressors.

Lecture 10 - Medical Trauma

• Hospitalized children experience physical and emotional stressors like painful procedures, chronic pain, disrupted routines, recurrent separations from caregivers, anxiety and fear related to diagnosis.

• Parental stress includes financial burdens, guilt, anxiety, and uncertainty about outcomes, with parental distress linked to higher PTSD risk in children.

• Hospitalization impacts children's development across different stages.

• Infants experience disrupted attachment, fearfulness, increased aggression, or withdrawal, with implicit trauma impacting parent-child bonding.

• Toddlers exhibit exacerbated separation anxiety and struggle with understanding illness, potentially experiencing developmental regression and delayed language/motor skills.

• Preschoolers display fear of mutilation and abandonment with potential for aggression.

• School-aged children grapple with understanding mortality and may blame themselves for illness, possibly witnessing altered self-image and alienation from peers.

• Adolescents process abstract concepts and demonstrate fear of peer alienation.

Challenges Associated with Child Medical Illness for the Family

• Families face significant strain with financial pressure, guilt related to the child's illness, and marital strain due to social isolation.

• Challenges include difficulty maintaining routines and fulfilling parenting responsibilities.

• Hospital-based supports like child life programs offer therapeutic play, education, and recreational activities for children.

• Family-centered care emphasizes family involvement and respectful partnerships with medical professionals.

11A Resilience and Treatment

• Resilience is the capacity to bounce back, adapting positively despite adversity through internal and external factors.

• A Developmental Psychology perspective emphasizes meeting age-appropriate milestones and developmental challenges.

• Examples of resilience aspects include achieving milestones like speech, relationships, and education despite adversity and successfully resisting negative outcomes.

Additional Topics/Lectures

• Additional details on various aspects of trauma, resilience, treatment, and the impact on children are provided in other lectures.

This quiz focuses on the effects of natural disasters on children, particularly the traumatic stressors they face. It explores the long-term impacts, including PTSD, depression, and educational disruption, as well as the related health vulnerabilities. Understanding these consequences is crucial for supporting affected children in recovery.