French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS), Poitiers Regional Office, Poitiers, France.
Prehosp Disaster Med. 2012 Oct;27(5):483-8. doi: 10.1017/S1049023X12001082. Epub 2012 Aug 10.
Following the Xynthia storm of February 2010 in France, an outreach program was initiated by the regional health authorities during the post-emergency phase to improve access to mental health care for the population exposed to the floods. The program was designed to complement routine health and social care services. It relied on a special telephone service and outreach consultations located in the town halls of the five most affected cities. The objective of this outreach service was to provide initial psychological counseling free of charge and without appointment. Another objective was to refer persons for appropriate treatment and follow-up by routine health care services. A surveillance program was developed to monitor the use of mental health services by first-time users, describe outreach service users with psychological manifestations, and provide timely information to decision makers.
Health providers working in affected towns were asked to complete an individual record sheet for each person who displayed psychological manifestations directly or indirectly linked with the storm on their first visit, and to send it to the regional health office. Participation was voluntary. Data analysis was performed monthly during the six-month surveillance period.
Only mental health providers participated in the surveillance. A total of 227 individual files were sent from April 7 through September 19, 2010. New cases were mainly female adults, and one fifth had a past history of psychiatric illness. Depressive signs and anxiety were the most commonly reported symptoms, followed by signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. A total of five feedback reports were produced for surveillance participants (informants) and authorities.
With initiation in the post-emergency phase of a disaster and timely regular feedback, the surveillance program enabled the authors to describe the occurrence of psychological distress, monitor mental health service use by first-time users, and provide guidance to health authorities. This research showed the advantages of integrating epidemiology in the development of strategy for mental health and psychosocial support in the aftermath of natural catastrophes.
2010 年 2 月法国“辛霞”风暴过后，地区卫生当局在紧急情况后阶段发起了一项外展计划，旨在改善暴露于洪水中的民众获得精神卫生保健的途径。该计划旨在补充常规的卫生和社会保健服务。它依赖于一个特殊的电话服务和位于五个受灾最严重城市镇公所的外展咨询服务。该外展服务的目的是免费和无需预约提供初步心理咨询。另一个目的是通过常规卫生保健服务为人员提供适当的治疗和随访。制定了一项监测方案，以监测首次使用者对精神卫生服务的使用情况，描述外展服务使用者的心理表现，并及时向决策者提供信息。
要求在受灾城镇工作的卫生提供者为直接或间接与风暴有关的心理表现首次就诊的每个人填写一份个人记录单，并将其发送至地区卫生局。参与是自愿的。在六个月的监测期内每月进行数据分析。
只有精神卫生提供者参与了监测。共有 227 份个人档案于 2010 年 4 月 7 日至 9 月 19 日发送。新病例主要为成年女性，五分之一有精神病史。报告的最常见症状为抑郁症状和焦虑，其次为创伤后应激障碍症状。共为监测参与者（报告人）和当局制作了五份反馈报告。
通过在灾害后紧急阶段启动并及时提供定期反馈，该监测方案使作者能够描述心理困扰的发生情况，监测首次使用者对精神卫生服务的使用情况，并为卫生当局提供指导。这项研究表明，在自然灾害发生后，将流行病学纳入精神卫生和心理社会支持战略的制定具有优势。
