Philippines Research & Service Project

RM 218

Survivors of natural disasters often experience the psychological aftereffect of emotional instability, sometimes lasting years after the event. The Philippines is a third world country highly susceptible to such crisis-inducing situations. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that only 5% of the Philippine government’s health budget was spent on mental health services – services that are essential in the recovery of a devastated community. This project consisted of a program evaluation with a quasi-experimental design that provided mental health services to children and their primary caregivers. It was intended to test the efficacy of a short-term and low cost intervention in a country that might otherwise lack the resources to implement mental health services as part of relief efforts. Pre and post quantitative assessments were administered to measure survivors’ levels of anxiety, depression, stress, hope, injury, and displacement. Additionally, the community was quantitatively and qualitatively assessed for its ongoing needs nine months after the typhoon. Results from child participants showed promise in the efficacy of the intervention on reduction of stress, but little to no effect on hope. Parent participant scores indicated the intervention was moderately effective in reducing mental health symptoms. Community assessment data showed some prevalence of ongoing mental health symptoms among respondents. If it can be proven that a brief and inexpensive intervention can be effective in improving mental health following a natural disaster, it will increase the likelihood of mental health workers successfully making a case to obtain funding for such services as part of relief efforts.