Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) one year following the Gulf Coast Oil Spill: Alabama and Mississippi 2011

摘要

BackgroundOn April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling unit exploded off the coast of Louisiana, resulting in 11 deaths and the largest marine petroleum release in history. Previous oil spill disasters have been associated with negative mental health outcomes in affected communities. In response to requests from Mississippi and Alabama, we identified potential mental health issues resulting from this event by implementing a novel use of a Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) in the months immediately following the Gulf Coast oil spill. We repeated this assessment one year later to determine long-term mental health needs and changes.