It DOES Take a Village: Community Strength Key to Disaster Recovery

Newswise — INDIANA, Pa.—Like her politics or not, a former first lady was right: it DOES take a village, according to an Indiana University of Pennsylvania professor of psychology.

Dr. Krzystof Kaniasty has done extensive research on how people cope and recover from natural and human-induced disasters. The key, he says, is community.

“The capacity of a collective to triumph over shared adversities is based on maintaining and augmenting social cohesion, mutual social support, cooperation and a sense of belonging to a valued social group and community. Empirical work with victims of various disasters strongly suggests that individuals’ functioning in the aftermath of potentially traumatic life events does not only depend on their own resources and losses but on the resources and losses of their community,” Kaniasty says.

Kaniasty realizes that people do try to step in and help those affected by tragedy. And while those efforts are extremely important and helpful in the short term, in the long-term, the “heroic efforts” after immediate tragedy simply are not enough.

“Many disasters initially mobilize affected communities into a heroic and altruistic struggle to fulfill immediate needs, and to shield victims from an overwhelming sense of loss. However, this heroic stage inevitably ceases and may not be sufficient to conquer the slowly evolving deterioration of social relationships routinely experienced by post-disaster communities.”

Kaniasty’s research has shown that “in the long run, failure or success in coping with shared trauma depends to a large extent on social and interpersonal functioning.

“Generously exchanging tangible aid and other support is obvious but for it to be effective, the post-crisis help must be allocated in ways that are transparent, easily understood, and perceived as fair and sensitive,” he explains.

“It is almost always highly recommended to keep people in their natural social groups, even when there is massive relocation. Allowing survivors to return to their normal activities as soon as possible is another essential because these activities provide a sense of security and predictability, keep people informed about the relative needs of network members, and provide the best forums for sharing experiences and feelings. Encouraging and providing the means for restoration of social and interpersonal contacts promote self-efficacy and collective efficacy and help preserve a sense of continuity, connectedness, and quality of postdisaster community life.

“One way of deterring lasting negative psychological consequences of disasters should be through protecting and maintaining communal resilience,” Kaniasty says.

Kaniasty recently shared his research at the Australian Psychological Society Annual Conference in Canberra as an invited keynote speaker.

In September, Kaniasty was honored with an international award for professional excellence, the Stress and Anxiety Research Society (STAR) Lifetime Career Award, at the 32nd STAR Conference in Münster, Germany.

Kaniasty has done extensive study on social support after natural disasters and trauma and has published numerous empirical and theoretical articles, chapters, and reports on the topic. He is the author of “Natural Disaster or Social Catastrophe? Psychosocial Consequences of the 1997 Polish Flood” and co-author of “Stress and Psychological Resources: Coping with Life Changes, Occupational Demands, Educational Challenges, and Threats to Physical and Emotional Well-Being.”. He is the past editor of Anxiety, Stress and Coping: An International Journal, and president-elect of the Stress and Anxiety Research Society (STAR).

Kaniasty has been at IUP since 1990. He has his master’s degree from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, and his Ph.D. in social-community psychology from the University of Louisville. He also teaches in Poland and is a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Psychology.