Children and trauma: community revitalization programs after earthquakes in Italy

Journal title PSICOLOGIA DI COMUNITA’
Author/s Barbara Forresi
Publishing Year 2017 Issue 2017/2 Language Italian
Pages 9 P. 35-43 File size 165 KB
DOI 10.3280/PSC2017-002004
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Earthquakes can be especially traumatic for children and youth, whose well-being is inextricably linked to family and community members: families and school personnel, infact, are first-line responders and natural sources of social support as children recover. The current article is focused on community resilience and on school and community interventions to promote child and adolescent wellbeing after natural disasters. In particular, two community intervention models will be presented, applied after the earthquakes that hit the Molise Region in 2003 and the Emilia Romagna Region in 2012: the Israeli model of the Community Reactivation and Revitalization Program and the Psychological First Aid (PFA), an evidence informed intervention developed in USA. They provide a useful framework for understanding how access to community and social support, both as formal and informal, promotes positive adaptation or reduced post-traumatic symptoms among children and adolescents.

Keywords: Earthquakes, trauma, children, community, resilience, school.

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Barbara Forresi, Bambini e trauma: esperienze di rivitalizzazione della comunità dopo i terremoti in Italia in "PSICOLOGIA DI COMUNITA’" 2/2017, pp 35-43, DOI: 10.3280/PSC2017-002004