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Roadmap for the Protection of Disaster Research Participants: Findings from the World Trade Center Evacuation Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Kristine A. Qureshi ,
Robyn R.M. Gershon ,
Elizabeth Smailes ,
Victoria H. Raveis ,
Bridgette Murphy ,
Frederick Matzner  and
Alan R. Fleischman
Kristine A. Qureshi
Affiliation:
University of Hawaii at Manoa, School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Robyn R.M. Gershon*
Affiliation:
Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Heath, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, New York, New York, USA
Elizabeth Smailes
Affiliation:
Occupational Health and Safety Agent for Healthcare in British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Victoria H. Raveis
Affiliation:
Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, Center for the Psychosocial Study of Health and Illness, New York, New York, USA
Bridgette Murphy
Affiliation:
Montefiore Medical Center, Department of Pathology, Bronx, New York, USA
Frederick Matzner
Affiliation:
Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center, Bronx, New York, USA
Alan R. Fleischman
Affiliation:
New York Academy of Medicine, New York, New York, USA
*
Department of Sociomedical Sciences Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health 722 West 168th Street, Room 1003 Fax: 212-305-8284 E-mail: rg405@columbia.edu
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Abstract

Introduction:

This report addresses the development, implementation, and evaluation of a protocol designed to protect participants from inadvertent emotional harm or further emotional trauma due to their participation in the World Trade Center Evacuation (WTCE) Study research project. This project was designed to identify the individual, organizational, and structural (environmental) factors associated with evacuation from the World Trade Center Towers 1 and 2 on 11 September 2001.

Methods:

Following published recommended practices for protecting potentially vulnerable disaster research participants, protective strategies and quality assurance processes were implemented and evaluated, including an assessment of the impact of participation on study subjects enrolled in the qualitative phase of the WTCE Study.

Results:

The implementation of a protocol designed to protect disaster study participants from further emotional trauma was feasible and effective in minimizing risk and monitoring for psychological injury associated with study participation.

Conclusions:

Details about this successful strategy provide a roadmap that can be applied in other post-disaster research investigations.

Keywords

disasterethicshuman subjectsprotectionroadmapWorld Trade Center research
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 22 , Issue 6 , December 2007 , pp. 486 - 493
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2007

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