Responding to adolescents following natural and technological disasters: The essential nature of hope

Abstract

With regard to the context of the immediate aftermath of a disaster, adolescence is a developmental age group that is rarely explicitly researched in terms of interventions. Usually, they are either considered along with school-aged youth, or they are treated more along the lines of an adult. Nevertheless, adolescence is a unique developmental time period that requires unique post-disaster interventions that may aid in the healthy processing and engagement of adaptive coping skills. Many adolescents experience a decrease in hopeful thinking post-disaster. Hope theory can aid in the development of obtainment goals through its concepts of agency and pathways. This chapter reviews existing interventions with relevance to adolescents following a natural or technological disaster where hope theory’s utility can be considered. Interventions include various psychological first aid (PFA) models that have been developed by various agencies and researchers to be utilized as guidelines when attending to adolescents following a disaster.