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Communication With Children and Families About Disaster: Reviewing Multi-disciplinary Literature 2015–2017

  • Child and Family Disaster Psychiatry (B Pfefferbaum, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

To identify strategies for communicating with youth and children pre- and post-disaster in the context of a broader survey of child participation in disaster risk reduction as well as methods for communication with children.

Recent Findings

Youth and children are capable of peer and community education and activism concerning disaster issues and such participation benefits the young actors. Family and sibling support are important in easing the impact of trauma on children. Contemporary forms of psychological first aid appear to do no harm and in line with current evidence. Generally, more evidence from evaluations is necessary to guide the development of communication strategies.

Summary

Children are growing up in increasingly urban environments with less contact with nature and greater reliance on techno-social systems. Thus, young people may misunderstand natural hazards. Schools and conscious parenting can play important roles in building understanding and psychological resilience.

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University College London, London, UK

    Ben Wisner & Maureen Fordham

  2. Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia

    Douglas Paton

  3. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Eva Alisic & Oliver Eastwood

  4. Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA

    Cheney Shreve

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  1. Ben Wisner
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  2. Douglas Paton
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  3. Eva Alisic
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  4. Oliver Eastwood
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  6. Maureen Fordham
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Correspondence to Ben Wisner.

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Conflict of Interest

Ben Wisner, Douglas Paton, Eva Alisic, Oliver Eastwood, and Cheney Shreve declare no conflict of interest.

Maureen Fordham has received a grant from the European Union.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Child and Family Disaster Psychiatry

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Wisner, B., Paton, D., Alisic, E. et al. Communication With Children and Families About Disaster: Reviewing Multi-disciplinary Literature 2015–2017. Curr Psychiatry Rep 20, 73 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-018-0942-7

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