Psychosocial disaster preparedness for school children by teachers

Disaster impacts physical, psychological, social and economic aspects of the individual, family and the community. The impact of disaster on children of different age group is many times greater than that of the adults. Psychosocial disaster preparedness, through teachers, is one among the best ways to prepare children to face the psychosocial consequences of disasters. The hypotheses of the study are (i) better the psychosocial intervention methodology, higher the knowledge level on psychosocial care and preparedness among the teachers and (ii) higher the psychosocial disaster preparedness knowledge among teachers, better the knowledge among children training by them. The aim of the study was to develop psychosocial disaster preparedness among school children by imparting training on psychosocial preparedness to them through trained teachers. Quasi Experimental Design - pre- and post- with control group was adopted for the study. Results showed that teachers who were provided training on psychosocial disaster preparedness had better knowledge than the control group. Higher the psychosocial disaster preparedness knowledge among teachers, better the knowledge among children subsequent to training by them compared to children from control group (t=43.6, p<0.001). Development of psychosocial disaster preparedness program and its integration with existing policies, programs and services would help children to be psychosocially prepared as well as make the school system more effective in dealing with the psychosocial issues of children during disasters.