Reviews:
-The emerging field of international disaster psychology is dedicated to the conduct of research and the planning of programs and projects to improve the psychological and emotional well being of people affected by disasters. In this four-volume set, Reyes and Jacobs have solicited contributions from authors involved in developing programs and projects.
—SciTech Book News
-[R]eaders involved in the psychological wellbeing of disaster survivors will find the firsthand accounts inspirational and instructive.
—Foreword This Week
-Disaster psychology is a relatively new discipline focusing on culturally relevant, community-based crisis intervention and stress reduction for survivors. This timely handbook has a surprising focus, especially in the first volume. Rather than serving as a clinical work, this multivolume set emphasizes program design and evaluation, coordination of humanitarian organizations, rapid response, assessment of needs, and cultural sensitivity to groups. Contributors write about the aftermath of disaster as a public health problem requiring psychosocial programming. Additionally, they discuss key issues such as the ethics of doing research at a disaster site, or the blurring of military and humanitarian operations and subsequent mortal threats to relief workers. They describe from personal experience how to implement programs for survivors (volume 2), how to assist refugees (volume 3), and how to help people with special needs, such as child soldiers, sexually abused women, and victims of torture (volume 4). A refrain throughout is that psychological distress after disaster is a normal response to abnormal events, and that suffering may be experienced collectively rather than individually....Beyond psychology, this handbook is appropriate for human rights, public health, disaster preparedness, public policy, and social work collections....Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates and beyond.
—Choice